
Glass '^) i n ^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



ASPECTS OF CHILD LIFE 

AND EDUCATION • BY G. STANLEY 
HALL • AND SOME OF HIS PUPILS 



Edited by THEODATE L. SMITH, Ph.D. 

BOSTON, U.S.A. 
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

1907 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDles Becelved { 
JUN 3 '90r 

Copyrieht E«try 

CLASS 'O^ KXC, No. 

COPY ti 



.Hs 



Copyright, \cp^ 
By G. STANLEY HALL 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



gTbe gtlitnguni jgr tag 

GINN & COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS ■ BOSTON • U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

The papers which constitute this volume have all been 
. .nted in my journals, most of them in the Pedagogical 
entinary, but ire nere revised, condensed, or amplified, and 
provided with up-to-date bibliographies on each topic by Dr. 
Theodate L. Smith, for whose efficiency and careful work I 
desire to express my heartiest acknowledgments. Material 
for several other volumes has been gathered and grouped, all of 
them in the same general field, but each in a different part of 
it, and with a unity of its own. These may be published later, 
if the success of this volume warrants the undertaking. For 
many years the special studies that have emanated from this 
department of Clark University have been planned with refer- 
ence to bringing them into ultimate unity in such a way that 
when published in book form the relations between the differ- 
ent parts of the wide and rapidly extending domain of child 
study might be exhibited in a systematic way, and their mani- 
fold applications, not hitherto apparent to the public, and often 
not to the individual investigator, might be set forth. Such 
a series as the above might have borne the collective title of 
" Chips from a Psycho-Genetic Laboratory." 

The papers of this volume have least unity of any in the 
contemplated series, but are upon topics of most popular and 
perhaps practical interest. The first paper, "The Contents 
of Children's Minds on entering School," appeared almost 
twenty-five years ago, and is often referred to as marking 
the beginning of child study in America. It was suggested 
by a somewhat similar test made some years earlier by 
Professor Lazarus upon a large group of children in Berlin. 



iv CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The Boston study was made possible by the generosity of 
Mrs. Pauline Agassiz Shaw, the founder of the kindergarten 
system of that city, and by the devoted labors of four of 
the best of her experts, headed by Miss S. E. Wiltse and 
Miss L. H. Symonds, who under my direction devoted months 
of careful and conscientious work to collecting the material. 
This paper has been republished several times in English, and 
translated in whole or in part into several foreign languages. 
As here presented, I have enlarged it by incorporating the 
results of all other similar tests of value that I know of up to 
date. As children's mental content differs much in different 
localities, it has often been suggested that some such survey 
of children just entering school should be undertaken in every 
community, in order that the teacher may know just what 
knowledge and ignorance can be assumed as a basis of teaching. 
This has sometimes been done in such a way as to secure 
these practical advantages to the teacher, but by methods not 
accurate enough to give scientific results. A recent official 
report shows that children who enter the schools of London 
late tend to surpass those who enter early, because the 
former, under the educational influences of the street, have 
acquired a number of facts and concepts which constitute 
apperception organs that enable them better to assimilate the 
material of instruction. 

The article on " The Psychology of Daydreams " shows 
how the spontaneous imagination of children often gives us 
a picture of the purest natural internal growth of the soul. 
Experiences and tales are not only rehearsed and amplified 
and sometimes idealized, but images are grouped into new 
combinations ; and when we consider the favorite themes of 
childish reverie, and the modifications to which facts are sub- 
jected, my own conclusion from the data presented in the 
original paper, here condensed, is that to explain all these 
processes we must often go back of events in the individual 



PREFACE V 

life of the child and invoke the inherited results of ancestral 
experience, and that this is true not only for adolescents but 
for young children. Vaschide ^ well says in substance : " Crea- 
tive imagination is by no means founded on memory or even 
sense. Indeed, its richness often seems inversely as these. 
The ordinary laws of association do not dominate here. 
Instead of explaining the unknown by the known, the child 
often reverses this process." Daydreams often seem the 
expression in semiconsciousness of the actual growth process 
of the cerebral elements, and this favors the suggestion that 
we sometimes have here the rehearsals of the experiences of 
our remote forebears. Archaic laws often rule even where the 
material digested is made up of the facts of individual Ufe. 
The full demonstration of this interpretation, which is at vari- 
ance with most current psychology, and, I think, with the view 
of the author of this paper, will be forthcoming elsewhere. 
All agree, however, that reverie, save in the few cases where 
it threatens to become morbid, is a natural function and should 
usually be allowed free course. 

Curiosity and interest are themes of cardinal moment for 
both psychology and for pedagogy. The chapter here pre- 
sented is a contribution to their natural history. Copious as 
is the recent literature upon these themes, they are still but 
imperfectly understood. After we have traced the stages of 
their development in the individual from infancy, and classi- 
fied their various directions and the objects upon which they 
focus, there still remains the larger problem as to why they 
take on specific forms and are often so innately strong. To this 
question we can only here suggest the general answer that all 
their outcrops represent the ways in which the soul of the 
young strives to expand to the dimensions of that of the race, 
to know what the life of man in his world is and means, and 
where each person is to find his place and function in it. In 

1 " Recherches experimentales sur I'imagination creatrice chez I'enfant," 
IV' Congres internatio7tal de Psychologic, p. 251, Paris, 1900. 



vi CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

the child there is a sacredness about interest, for when mature 
in the adult it is this impulse that has created the whole 
domain of knowledge and made man master of nature. To 
tell just how to feed it is about the whole duty of didactics. 

" The Story of a Sand Pile " is a very inadequate record of 
unique and chiefly spontaneous development that seemed to 
the writer an idyl of recapitulation. I know nothing quite 
comparable with it, except J. Johnson's " Rudimentary Society 
among Boys," cited on page 156. The lads of the MacDonogh 
Institute range over some eight hundred acres, and have 
spontaneously evolved social, political, and business institu- 
tions in a crude way, rudely repeating the evolution of human 
society. This paper should be read by all who would know 
what a group of boys can do when left to themselves in the 
country. To compare such records with Crusoe on his island 
is well calculated to impress the old adage that truth is 
stranger than fiction even at its best can be. Such studies 
take us of the present back to prehistoric times, and enable 
us to see to-day how primitive society first arose. Some 
principles here suggested have found their way into the 
practices of the George Junior Republic. The lesson also 
should be heeded by those who study the pedagogy of pre- 
paring the rising generation for future citizenship. Such and 
other curricula have not as yet, I fancy, profited as they 
should by these examples. 

It is strange indeed that dolls, which are always and every- 
where inseparable from child life, have never before been 
made a subject of serious study until the paper here presented 
appeared. Dolls have figured in toy congresses and in sev- 
eral learned accounts of ancient and primitive people, but it 
remained for Dr. Ellis to show in detail the immense signifi- 
cance they may have for the development of the individual, 
social, and moral life of the child. For boys they rarely 
represent babies, and do not always do so for girls, but are 



PREFACE vii 

often simply adults reduced to the dimensions of the child's 
mind so that it can take in the details of their form, apparel, 
and environment at a glance. They also have relations to 
idols, and nowhere is the fecund fancy of children more rich 
than in the various forms of play. It still remains to be shown 
how dolls can best be utilized in the kindergarten and in the 
primary school, to turn on the full psycho-motor power of 
this interest and to utilize it in the best way. 

Collecting is often not only an instinct but almost a passion 
with children. Their collections are generally prompted not 
so much by the instinct to acquire and own as by the love of 
the activities involved in gathering and in accumulating many 
similar objects for comparison and for the mere enumeration. 
Some collections are spontaneously classified and even labeled, 
and some of them have an intrinsic value apart from their asso- 
ciation. Collections vary not only in the kinds of objects sought, 
which are many, but also with age, sex, environment, motive, 
and manner of collection, and all these distinctions are suggest- 
ive. Imitation plays its part. In younger children it may 
appear as a blind impulse to hoard. It is extremely educable, 
and can be turned to valuable account not only to aid interest 
in school topics but also to secure contributions to local mu- 
seums. For the most part, however, this zest must be counted 
as another of the natural powers in the soul, of which the school 
has not yet learned to take full advantage. Its origin is very 
obscure and constitutes a most challenging problem. Its 
nature is undoubtedly extremely complex. 

Property and ownership arise from an impulse to extend 
the dominion of the self over objects in the environment, ani- 
mate and inanimate. Like the Sammeltrieb, it begins in the 
animal world. Food, implements, ornaments, and dress are the 
first forms of property with the child as with the race. With 
the latter most forms of property seem first communal, and 
individual ownership arises later, whereas this order, so far as 



viii CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

we have yet learned, seems inverse with the child. The school 
is just beginning to consider its function in regulating and 
controlling the acquisitive instinct by savings banks. The 
study here printed, although a slight, is believed to be a real, 
contribution to a large theme which needs further investigation. 

Child fetichists seem a strange recrudescence of a very 
ancient and widespread psychosis. The very ostensive cases, 
here collected by Ellis, and those by other writers referred to, 
show how profoundly significant the phenomena of child life 
often are, — as keys to unlock the secrets of past stages of 
human history. In these cases we have within our own nurs- 
eries survivals of certain elements of the religion of primitive 
people the world over for countless generations. Lowly as 
they now seem they once represented the high-water mark 
of religious development. 

In the last paper I have set down with as much fidelity to 
fact and detail as I was able certain memories of my own 
boyhood, the type of which was precisely that contemplated 
by the founders of our government, but which is now fast 
passing away. I believe it illustrates the early life of very 
many, if not a majority, of the boys in this country when life 
was predominantly rural and farms were small, agricultural 
machinery undeveloped, and interest in religious and political 
questions intense. With the decay of this type of farm life 
certain elements of education, which all agree were valuable, 
have become obsolete, and they have not yet been completely 
restored, nor can they be, by any artificial schemes of revert- 
ing to the country, although many such have been attempted. 
Those who may be interested in this article should also refer 
to another study published elsewhere, which specifies far more 
in detail many of the items of such an environment and their 
effects.^ 

1 See note on "'Ea.rly Memories," Pedagogical! Seminary, Dec. 1899, Vol. VI, 
p. 485. 



PREFACE ix 

The child is older than the adult in the sense that its traits 
existed earlier in the world than those that characterize the 
mature man or woman. The qualities of the latter were 
acquired and superposed later, and are by long ages younger 
and more recent. Studies hke those in this httle volume may 
thus be called researches into the archeology of the human 
soul. If it be true, as I hold, that the most complete knowl- 
edge of anything whatever, and especially of all that is vital, 
is an exhaustive description of its developmental stages from 
its origin up to the present, we are still very far from 
having a science of the soul of man. To this science child 
study has contributed a new method and new results. At 
every stage its conclusions must be correlated with those 
derived from the study of the mind of animals and of primi- 
tive people. To develop these three lines of investigation, 
using the results in each to shed light upon those of the 
other, is a far harder and more complex process than the mere 
classification or analysis of the adult consciousness, which is 
but one cross section of the mind at only one of its many 
stages of unfoldment. The latter studies are valuable just as 
is the anatomy of the adult body, but genetic studies like 
these are the embryology of the soul. They reveal the secrets 
and processes of its making, show its faculties in perspective, 
and thus bring the manifold elements into proper relations. 

G. Stanley Hall 

Clark University 
Worcester, Massachusetts 



CONTENTS 

Page 

The Contents of Children's Minds. G. Stanley Hall . . i 

The Psychology of Daydreams. Theodate L. Smith ... 53 

Curiosity and Interest. Theodate L. Smith and G. Stanley Hall 84 

The Story of a Sand Pile. G. Stanley Hall 142 

A Study of Dolls. A. Caswell Ellis zn6. G. Stanley Hall . .157 

The Collecting Instinct. Caroline Frear Burk 205 

The Psychology of Ownership. Linus W. Kline and C. J. 

France 241 

Fetichism in Children. G. Harold Ellis 287 

Boy Life in a Massachusetts Country Town Forty Years 

Ago. G. Stanley Hall 300 

INDEX 323 



ASPECTS OF CHILD LIFE AND 
EDUCATION 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS ON 
ENTERING SCHOOL i 

In October, 1869, the Berlin pedagogical Verein^ issued a 
circular inviting teachers to investigate the individuality of 
children on entering the city schools, so far as it was repre- 
sented by ideas of their environment. Individuality in children, 
it was said, differed in Berlin not only from that of children in 
smaller cities or in the country, but surroundings caused marked 
differences in culture capacity in different wards. Although 
concepts from the environment were only one important cause 
of diversity of individuality, this cause once determined, infer- 
ences could be drawn to other causes. It was expected that 
although city children would have an experience of moving 
things much larger than country children, they would have 
noticed very little of things at rest ; that to names like forest^ 
e.g., they, with an experience only with parks, would attach a 
very different set of concepts from those of the country child. 
The fact that country children who entered city schools behind 
city children caught up with them so readily was due to the 
fact that early school methods as well as matter of instruction 
were better adapted to country children. Conversation with 
children in collecting the statistical materials would, it was 
predicted, tend to interesting and surprising results. When 
asked what mountain (Berg) they had ever seen, all the girls 

1 Reprinted from Princeton Review, Vol. II, pp. 249-272, May, 1883. 

I 



2 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

in an upper class of a grammar school said Pfefferberg, the 
name of a beerhouse near by, and for all Berg was a place of 
amusement. This would cause an entire group of geographical 
ideas to miscarry. Others knowing the words pond or lake 
only from artificial ponds or lakes in the park, thought these 
words designated water holders, which might or might not 
have water in them. A preliminary survey showed that many 
children in each city school had never seen important monu- 
ments, squares, gardens, etc., near their own home and school- 
house, and few knew the important features of their city at 
large. With the method of geographical instruction in vogue 
that begins with the most immediate surroundings and widens 
in concentric circles to city, country, fatherland, etc., these 
gaps in knowledge made havoc. School walks and excursions, 
object-lesson material, as well as the subject-matter of reading, 
writing, etc., should be regulated by the results of such inquiry. 
This circular, which was accompanied by a list of points for 
inquiry, ended by invoking general and hearty personal cooper- 
ation. It was not sufficient to have seen a hare, a squirrel, etc., 
but the hare must have been seen running wild, the squirrel 
in a tree, sheep grazing, the stork on its nest, the swan swim- 
ming, chickens with the hen, the lark must be singing, the 
butterfly, snail, lark, etc., must be in a natural environment. 
The returns for 1 3 of the 84 schools of Berlin were worthless. 
Other tests suggested but not reported on were colors, knowl- 
edge of money, weights, and measures ; how many have seen a 
soldier, sailor, peasant, Jew, Moor, or a shoemaker, carpenter, 
plasterer, watchmaker, printer, painter, etc., at work; how 
many knew how bread was made out of grain ; where stock- 
ings came from ; how many could repeat correctly a spoken 
sentence, say a poem by heart, sing something, repeat a musical 
note, had attended a concert, have a cat, dog, or bird, etc. 
As an essential object of these inquiries was to distinguish 
the concepts which children brought to school from those 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 3 

acquired there, returns made some weeks or months after the 
children entered school had little value, yet were worked up 
with the rest. The very slight interest shown by teachers in 
making these inquiries was also remarked. As only about one 
third of a minute for each question to each child was the time 
taken, there could be no collateral questioning, so that confu- 
sion and misunderstanding no doubt invalidated many returns. 
The sources of error to be constantly guarded against are 
errors in counting, imagination, or embarrassment of the chil- 
dren. When the answers were taken in class nearly twice as 
many children asserted knowledge of the concept as when they 
were taken in groups of 8 to 10. Nearly half the boys and 
more than half the girls on entering school had never seen to 
know by name any one of the following conspicuous objects 
in Berlin : Lustgarten, Unter den Linden, Wilhelm Platz, Gens- 
darmenmarkt, or the Brandenburg Gate. From the large num- 
ber of returns, those from 2238 children just entering school 
seem to have been pretty complete for 75 questions ; but other 
returns were usable for a part of the questions, and some for 
other questions, so that in the tables the number of children 
is recorded on the uniform basis of 10,000. Arranged in the 
order of frequency the first Berlin table is as follows : 

Dwelling 9026 Moon 6215 

Father's business .... 8945 Swan 6175 

Name of father . . . . 85 17 Butterfly 6028 

Firmament 8145 Clouds . 5925 

Tempest (day) 7873 Fish 5853 

Rainbow 7770 Unter den Linden . . . 5590 

Sphere 7623 Menagerie 5496 

Two 7435 Square 5474 

Three 7399 Evening sky 5384 

Four 7265 Hasenheide 5121 

Hail 7015 Frog 5085 

Cube 6957 Circle 4991 

Potato field 6323 Snail 4750 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



Sunset 4625 

Meadow 4607 

Alexander Platz .... 4366 

Triangle 4182 

Cornfield 4062 

Zoological Gardens . . . 4057 

Frederick's Grove . . . 3887 

Herd of Sheep .... 3870 

Pleasure Garden .... 3861 

Forest 3646 

City Hall 3615 

Morning sky 3592 

Squirrel 3579 

Brandenburg Gate . 3467 

Kreuzberg 3454 

Castle of King 3423 

Village 3374 

Tempest (night) .... 3347 

Mountain 3248 

Museum 3222 

Cuckoo 3137 

Treptow 3065 

Sunrise 3052 

Gensdarmenmarkt . . . 2909 

Stork 2887 



Palace of King .... 2886 

Mushroom 2855 

Oak 2641 

Plow 2636 

Sleet 2493 

Moss 2484 

Hare 2466 

Stralau 2453 

Harvest 2368 

Dew 2364 

Wilhelm Platz . . . . 2158 

Lake 2078 

Arsenal 1957 

Scotch fir 1828 

Lark 1 796 

Reed 1 702 

Willow 1667 

Whortleberry 1640 

Birch 1 318 

Rummelsberg 1242 

Park for I nvalids . . . . 11 35 

River 1 122 

Hazel shrub . . . . , 907 

Botanical Garden .... 527 



Thus, e.g., out of 10,000 children, 9026 had the idea of dwell- 
ings, while but 527 had any idea of the Botanical Garden. 
The same returns otherwise presented are as follows : 

Children 
Children from Children Children 
Boys Girls from Kinder- from alto- 
Families garten Refuges gether 



Number two 


. 7478 


7380 


7436 


8223 


7113 


7435 


Number three . 


. 7478 


7298 


7418 


7355 


7344 


7399 


Number four 


. 7279 


7247 


7224 


8258 


7067 


7265 


Triangle . . . 


• 4274 


4036 


4078 


5484 


41 1 1 


4182 


Square . . . 


• 5424 


5537 


5230 


7484 


5681 


5474 


Area of circle . 


• 4750 


5312 


4818 


6645 


5081 


4991 


Sphere . . . 


. 7684 


7544 


7576 


8516 


7483 


7623 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 















Children 










Children 


from 


Children 


Children 


Boys 


Girls 


from 


Kinder- 


from 


alto- 






Families 


garten 


Refuges 


gether 


Cube 6971 


6970 


6800 


8064 


7159 


6957 


Moon . . 






. . 6043 


6438 


6067 


8000 


6144 


6215 


Sunrise . 






• • 3410 


2590 


3194 


2710 


2633 


3052 


Sunset 






• • 4925 


4237 


4739 


4516 


4226 


4635 


Firmament 






. . 8382 


7840 


8012 


8645 


8476 


8145 


Tempest (day) 




. . 7613 


8209 


7776 


9226 


7760 


7873 


Tempest (night' 




. . 3188 


3509 


3224 


4194 


3510 


3347 


Dew . , . 




• . 2331 


2395 


2455 


2323 


2032 


2364 


Clouds 






. 6ogo 


S7II 


5727 


6581 


6443 


5925 


Hail . . 






. 6606 


7544 


7055 


7677 


6628 


7015 


Sleet . . 






. . 2847 


2037 


2382 


2194 


3025 


2493 


Rainbow . 






• 7708 


7851 


7667 


9355 


7598 


7770 


Evening sky 






• 5567 


5148 


5303 


6065 


5450 


5384 


Morning sky 






• 3497 


3715 


3545 


4128 


3580 


3592 


Hare . . 






. 2482 


2446 


2473 


3097 


2217 


2466 


Squirrel . 






. 3878 


3193 


3170 


4903 


4665 


3579 


Stork . . . 






• 3212 


2467 


2897 


3290 


2702 


2887 


Swan . . . 






. 6757 


5425 


5976 


7032 


6628 


6175 


Cuckoo . . 






• 3545 


2610 


3048 


4129 


3I18 


3137 


Lark . . . 






. 2220 


1249 


1739 


2258 


1848 


1796 


Frog . . . 






• 5551 


4482 


4879 


6323 


5427 


5085 


Fish . . . 






. 6852 


4565 


5691 


6968 


6074 


5853 


Butterfly . . 






. 7128 


4606 


5503 


8258 


7229 


6028 


Snail . . . 






. 4877 


4585 


4612 


5484 


5012 


4750 


Birch . . . 






• 1531 


1044 


1339 


1355 


1229 


1318 


Scotch fir 






. 2205 


1341 


1770 


2065 


1963 


1828 


Oak . . . 






. 2625 


2661 


2776 


2451 


2194 


2641 


Willow . . 






. 2157 


1034 


1703 


1742 


I50I 


1667 


Hazel shrub 




• 1055 


706 


927 


1032 


762 


907 


Whortleberry . 




. 1792 


1443 


1564 


2645 


1570 


1640 


Sedge (reed) 




. 1840 


1525 


1655 


2581 


1570 


1702 


Mushroom . . 




. 3204 


2405 


2539 


3419 


2610 


2855 


Moss .... 




. 2688 


2221 


2867 


3355 


1963 


2484 


Lustgarten . . 




. 4021 


3654 


3800 


5032 


3672 


3861 


Unter den Linden . 


. 6122 


4993 


5436 


6129 


5982 


5590 


Wilhelm Platz 


. 2696 


1464 


2345 


193s 


1524 


2158 


Alexander Ph 


itz 




. 4084 


4729 


4515 


3935 


3946 


4366 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 











Children 












Children 


from 


Children 


Children 




Boys 


Girls 


from 


Kinder- 


from 


alto- 








Families 


garten 


Refuges 


gether 


Gensdarmenmarkt . 


3450 


2221 


2915 


3032 


2841 


2909 


Brandenburg Gate 


388s 


2968 


3388 


4774 


3303 


3467 


Castle 


3465 


3367 


3333 


4192 


3510 


3423 


King's Palace . . 


3180 


2508 


2788 


3613 


3002 


2886 


Museum .... 


3450 


2927 


2982 


3935 


3880 


3222 


Arsenal .... 


2165 


1689 


1855 


2839 


2032 


1957 


City Hall .... 


3703 


3501 


3412 


5935 


3557 


3615 


Frederick's Grove . 


. 3600 


4258 


3915 


2710 


4203 


3887 


Menagerie . . . 


5964 


4893 


5261 


6516 


6028 


5496 


Zoological Garden. 


4346 


3685 


3727 


6323 


4503 


4057 


Botanical Garden . 


452 


624 


497 


1161 


416 


527 


Kreuzberg . . . 


4179 


2518 


3479 


4065 


3141 


3454 


Hasenheide . . . 


5780 


4258 


5121 


6194 


4734 


5121 


Park 


130I 


922 


964 


1355 


1709 


1 135 


Treptow .... 


3196 


2897 


3127 


4065 


2469 


3065 


Stralau .... 


2840 


195s 


2515 


2387 


2240 


2453 


Rummelsberg . . 


1459 


963 


1248 


903 


1339 


1242 


Drove of Sheep 


4005 


3695 


3739 


4323 


4203 


3870 


Cornfield .... 


4322 


3726 


4012 


4194 


4203 


4062 


Potato field . . . 


6265 


6397 


6303 


6323 


6397 


6323 


Village .... 


3672 


2989 


3364 


3419 


3395 


3374 


Plow 


3283 


180I 


2570 


3290 


2656 


2636 


Harvests .... 


2744 


1883 


2315 


2323 


2587 


2368 


Dwelling .... 


9120 


8905 


9103 


9355 


8612 


9026 


Name of father . 


8136 


9007 


8830 


8065 


7483 


8517 


Calling of father . 


8652 


9324 


9194 


8968 


7991 


8945 


Mountain .... 


3402 


3050 


3067 


4645 


3441 


3248 


Forest 


4036 


3142 


3555 


4194 


3418 


3646 


Meadow .... 


5004 


4096 


4467 


4645 


5127 


4607 


Lake 


2451 


1586 


2055 


2000 


2171 


2078 


River 


1 1 26 


III5 


1 194 


968 


901 


1122 



This table shows that out of 10,000 boys, 7478 on entering 
the Berlin schools have an idea of the number two ; out of 
10,000 girls, 7380 have it ; out of 10,000 children of both sexes 
indiscriminately, 7436 have it, etc. Here the concepts are 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 7 

arranged in systematic order. Mathematics, 1-8 ; astronom- 
ical, 9-13; meteorological, 13-21; animals, 22-31; plants, 
32-40; local geography, 41-61 ; and miscellaneous. Of three 
fourths of these concepts as objects more girls are ignorant 
than boys, and those who have not been in the kindergarten 
are more ignorant than those who have. Some of these 
objects were doubtless known but had not acquired a name 
for the child ; others they had seen but had not had their atten- 
tion called to. It is often said that girls are more likely to excel 
boys in learning concepts, the more general these concepts are. 
Perhaps we may also assume that the most common concepts 
are acquired before those possessed by a few individuals 
only. The greater the number of concepts in the test lists, 
the more boys seemed to excel girls. The easy and widely 
diffused concepts are commonest among girls ; the harder and 
more special or exceptional ones are commonest among boys. 
The girls clearly excelled only in the following concepts : 
name and calling of the father, tempest, rainbow, hail, po- 
tato field, moon, square, circle, Alexander Platz, Frederick's 
Grove, morning sky, oak, dew, and Botanical Garden. Of 
all the children the sphere was known to 76 per cent., the 
cube to 69 per cent., the square to 54 per cent,, the circle 
to 49 per cent., the triangle to 41 per cent. The girls 
excel in space concepts and boys in numbers. Girls excel 
in ideas of family, house, and thunderstorms, children from 
houses of refuge had more concepts than children from fami- 
lies, and those from kindergartens excelled both. The child's 
characteristic question, What is that .? is so poorly answered 
at home that he comes to school so poor in concepts that in- 
struction must either operate with words, or use pictures, 
or go back to nature. Thus text-books and other means of 
instruction assume a knowledge which the child does not 
possess, and it is hard to find those which are well adapted 
to a given population. Thus object lessons, excursions, etc., 



8 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



are suggested as first steps to fill the gaps in the child's 
knowledge. 

The following table shows the relative number of children 
who knew four Bible stories and four of Grimm's favorite 
fairy tales. 

Children 

Children from Children Children Per Per 

Boys Girls from Kinder- from alto- cent. cent. 

Families garten Refuges gether Boys Girls 

7827 5067 6927 5935 5704 6633 60.7 39.3 

6757 4217 5818 5355 5104 5648 61.6 38.4 
3743 1453 2727 2258 2979 2744 72. 28. 

5400 4647 5078 5613 4850 5041 53.7 46.6 

2173 3009 2436 4387 2263 2538 41.9 58.1 

2427 3664 2800 4581 3025 2967 39.8 60.2 

563 1044 661 1871 808 773 35. 65. 

1784 2897 2182 3871 2032 2270 38. 61.9 

5852 3846 5138 4790 4659 5021 60.3 39.7 
1734 2654 2020 3677 2032 2137 39.5 60.5 



God . . . 

Christ . . . 
Bible stories . 
Prayers and \ 

Songs / 
Schneewittchen 
Rothkappchen 
Dornroschen . 
Aschenbrodel \ 

Average / 
Religious . . 
Fairy tales . 



Thus girls excel in fairy tales and boys in religious con- 
cepts. As the opportunities to learn both would not proba- 
bly differ much, there seems here a difference of disposition. 
God and Christ were better learned at home, and the tales best 
in the kindergarten. Rothkappchen was better known than 
God, and Schneewittchen than Christ. More boys could 
repeat sentences said to them, or sing musical phrases sung 
to them, or sing a song, than girls. Kindergarten children 
come from the richer, refuge children from the poorer, class, 
while parents between these extremes occupy themselves most 
with their children. The better off the parents, the stiller and 
less imitative the child, is a law suggested by the statistics 
of abilities. Not only method but choice and arrangement 
of the material of instruction depend on the knowledge the 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 9 

child has. Further investigations on narrower and more 
closely related subjects should be chosen. Investigation of 
six to twelve closely related points is suggested as the best 
method, and every teacher could occasionally complete such 
inventories in his or her room. 

In Germany it is more common than in our country to con- 
nect songs, poetry, reading and object lessons, instruction in 
history, geography, botany, geology, and other elementaiy 
branches with the immediate locality. A school geography 
of Leipzig, e.g., begins with the schoolhouse and yard, the 
street, with cross sections of it to show drainage, gas, etc., 
and then widens out into the world by concentric circles. 
Stated holiday walks conducted by teachers for educational 
purposes and for making collections for the schoolrooms are 
more common. The psychic peculiarities of different school 
districts of Berlin seemed to be influenced surprisingly by 
locality. 

In 1879 Dr. K. Lange^ urged that a six-year-old child has 
learned already far more than a student learns in his entire 
university course. " These six years have been full of ad- 
vancement, like the six days of creation." Concrete con- 
ceptions have been accumulated in vast numbers and the 
teacher must not assume that a tabula rasa is before him. 
Both this and the presumption of too much knowledge 
would be to build upon sand. Children have experienced and 
learned far more than they can put into words ; hence again 
the need of cross questioning. Lange's table on the follow- 
ing page was based on 500 children entering the city schools 
of Plauen, and 300 entering 21 country schools in outlying 
districts, and the figures represent the percentages of those 
having the concept. 

1 See " Der Vorstellungskreis unserer sechsjahrigen Kleinen," Allg. Schul- 
Zeitung, Bd. 56, pp. 327 et seq. Darmstadt, 1879. 



lO CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Question or Concept City Children Country Children 

Sunrise i8 42 

Sunset 23 58 

Moon and stars 84 82 

Appearance and song of the lark 20 70 

Fish swimming wild 72 83 

Visit to a pond 51 86 

Visit to a brook or river 71 82 

Visit to high hill or mountain 48 74 

Visit to a forest 63 86 

Knows an oak 18 57 

Seen a corn or wheat field 64 92 

Knows how bread comes from grain ... 28 63 

Seen a shoemaker at work 79 80 

Seen a carpenter at work 55 62 

Seen a mason at work 86 92 

Been in a church 50 49 

Knows aught of the dear God 51 66 

Only 43 per cent, of the city children had ever been to any 
other town or village, only 18 per cent, had seen the castle 
near by, and knowledge of colors was as follows, beginning 
with those best known and ending with the least known : 
black, white, red, green, blue, yellow. The ignorance of 
city children shows the utility of school excursions. Girls had 
seen, heard, and experienced less than boys of all the seven- 
teen subjects of inquiry save the " dear God," of whom they 
knew more than the boys. Little is told of Lange's methods, 
or whether or how far they led to a modification of the ele- 
mentary curriculum. 

It was with the advantages of many suggestions and not a 
few warnings from these attempts that the writer undertook, 
soon after the opening of the Boston schools in September, 
1880, to make out a list of questions suitable for obtaining an 
inventory of the contents of the minds of children of average 
intelligence on entering the primary schools of that city. 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS u 

This was made possible by the liberality of Mrs. Quincy 
Shaw, who detailed four excellent teachers from her compre- 
hensive system of kindergartens to act as special questioners 
under the writer's direction, and by the cooperation of Miss 
L. B. Pingree, their superintendent. All the local and many 
other of the German questions were not suitable to children 
here, and the task of selecting those that should be so, 
though perhaps not involving quite so many perplexing con- 
siderations as choosing an equally long list of "normal 
words," was by no means easy. They must not be too 
familiar nor too hard and remote, but must give free and 
easy play to thought and memory. But especially, to yield 
most practical results, they should he within the range of 
what children are commonly supposed or at least desired or 
expected, by teachers and by those who write primary text- 
books and prescribe courses of instruction, to know. Many 
prehminary half days of questioning small groups of children 
and receiving suggestions from many sources, and the use of 
many primers, object-lesson courses, etc., now in use in this 
country, were necessary before the first provisional list of one 
hundred and thirty-four questions was printed. The problem 
first considered was strictly practical, namely, what may Bos- 
ton children be, by their teachers, assumed to know and 
have seen when they enter school ; although other purposes 
more psychological shaped other questions used later. 

The difficulties and sources of possible error in the use of 
such questions are many. Not only are children prone to 
imitate others in their answers without stopping to think 
and give independent answers of their own, but they often 
love to seem wise, and, to make themselves interesting, 
state what seems to interest us without reference to truth, 
divining the lines of our interest with a subtlety we do not 
suspect. If absurdities are doubted by the questioner, they 
are sometimes only the more protested by the children ; 



12 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

the faculties of some are benumbed and perhaps their 
tongues tied by bashfulness, while others are careless, hst- 
less, inattentive, and answer at random. Again, many ques- 
tioners are brusque, lacking in sympathy or tact, or real 
interest or patience in the work, or perhaps regard it as 
trivial or fruitless. These and many other difficulties seemed 
best minimized by the following method, which was finally 
settled upon and, with the cooperation of Mr. E. P. Seaver, 
then superintendent of the Boston schools, put into opera- 
tion. The four trained and experienced kindergarten teachers 
were employed by the hour to question the children in groups 
of three at a time in the dressing room of the school, so as not 
to interrupt the school work. No constraint was used, and as 
several ^hours were necessary to finish each set, changes and 
rests were often needful, while by frequent correspondence 
and by meetings with the writer to discuss details and com- 
pare results, uniformity of method was sought. The most 
honest and unembarrassed child's first answer to a direct 
question, e.g., whether it has seen a cow, sheep, etc., must 
rarely or never be taken without careful cross questioning, a 
stated method of which was developed respecting many objects. 
If the child says it has seen a cow, but when asked its size 
points to its own finger nail or hand and says, so big, as not un- 
frequently occurs, the inference is that it has at most only 
seen a picture of a cow, and thinks its size reproduced therein, 
and accordingly he is set down as deficient on that question. 
If, however, he is correct as to size, but calls the color blue, 
does not know that the cow is the source of milk, or that it 
has horns or hoofs, — several errors of the latter order were 
generally allowed. A worm may be said to swim on the 
ground, butchers to kill only the bad animals, etc. ; but 
when hams are said to grow on trees or in the ground, or 
a hill is described as a lump of dirt, or wool as growing on 
hens, as sometimes occurs, deficiency is obvious. Thus many 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 



13 



visual and other notions that seem to adults so simple that 
they must be present to the mind with some completeness or 
not at all, are in a process of gradual acquisition, element by- 
element, in the mind of a child, so that there must sometimes 
be confessedly a certain degree of arbitrariness in saying, as, 
except in cases of peculiar uncertainty, the questioners at- 
tempted to do, that the child has the concept or does not 
have it. Men's first names seemed to have designated single 
striking qualities, but once applied they become general or 
specific names according to circumstances. Again, very few 
children knew that a tree had bark, leaves, trunk, and roots ; 
but very few indeed had not noticed a tree enough for our 
" pass." Without specifying further details, it may suffice 
here to say that the child was given the benefit of every 
doubt and credited with knowledge wherever its ignorance 
was not so radical as to make a chaos of what instruction and 
most primary text-books are wont to assume. It is impor- 
tant also to add that the questioners were requested to report 
manifest gaps in the child's knowledge in its own zvords, 
reproducing its syntax, pronunciation, etc. 

About sixty teachers besides the four examiners made re- 
turns from three or more children each. Many of their 
returns, however, are incomplete, careless, or show internal 
contradictions, and can be used only indirectly to control 
results from the other sources. From more than twice that 
number two hundred of the Boston children were selected as 
the basis of the following table. For certain questions and 
for many statistical purposes this number is much too small 
to yield very valuable results, but where, as in the majority 
of cases, the averages of these children taken by fifties have 
varied less than ten per cent., it is safe to infer that the figures 
have considerable representative worth, and far more than 
they could have if the percentages were small. The precau- 
tions that were taken to avoid schools where the children 



14 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

come from homes representing extremes of either culture or 
ignorance, or to balance deviations from a preliminary con- 
jecture averaged in one direction by Hke deviations in the 
other, and also to select from each schoolroom with the 
teacher's aid only children of average capacity, and to dis- 
miss each child found unresponsive or not acquainted with 
the English language, give to the percentages, it is believed, 
a worth which, without these and other precautions to this end, 
only far larger numbers could yield. 

The following table shows the general results for a number 
of those questions which admit of categorical answers, only 
negative results being recorded ; the italicized questions in 
the " miscellaneous " class being based on only from forty to 
seventy-five children, the rest on two hundred, or, in a few 
cases, on two hundred and fifty. 

In 1883, shortly after my own tables, as below, were pub- 
lished. Superintendent J. M. Greenwood of Kansas City tested 
678 children of the lowest primary class in that city, of whom 
47 were colored, with some of my questions. I here print his 
percentages in the last two columns. In his state, children 
are admitted to school at six, but his tests were made in 
March, April, May, or after some seven months or more of 
school life, and probably at greater age. 

Per Cent, of Children 

^T _ Ignorant of it 

Name of the Object 

OF Conception In Boston In Kansas City 

White Colored 

Beehive 80. 59.4 66. 

Crow 77. 47.3 59. 

Bluebird 72.5 

Ant 65.5 21.5 19. 1 

Squirrel 63. 15. 4.2 

Snail 62. 

Robin 60.5 30.6 10.6 

Sparrow 57.5 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 



15 



Name of the Object 
OF Conception 



Sheep . 
Bee. . 
Frog . 
Pig. . 
Chicken 
Worm . 
Butterfly 
Hen . 
Cow 



Growing wheat . . 
Elm tree .... 
Poplar tree . . . 
Willow .... 
Growing oats . . 
Oak tree .... 

Pine 

Maple 

Growing moss . 
Growing strawberries 
Growing clover . . 
Growing beans . . 
Growing blueberries 
Growing blackberries 
Growing corn . . 
Chestnut tree . . 
Planting a seed . . 
Peaches on a tree . 
Growing potatoes . 
Growing buttercup 
Growing rose 
Growing grapes . . 
Growing dandelion 
Growing cherries . 
Growing pears . . 
Growing apples . . 



Per Cent. 


of Children 




Ignorant of it 




I Boston 




In Kansas City 






White 


Colored 


54- 




3-5 




52. 




7.27 


4.2 


SO. 




2.7 




47.5 




1.7 




33-5 




•5 




22. 




•S 




20.5 




•5 




19. 




.1 




18.5 




5.2 




92.5 




234 


66. 


91-5 




52.4 


89.8 



89 
89 
87 
87 
87 
83 
81 
78 

74 
71 
67 
66 

65 
64 
63 
61 
61 
55 
54 
S3 
52 
46 
32 
21 



62.2 


58.6 


65.6 


87.2 


31.2 


80.8 


30-7 


42.5 


26.5 


I.I 



i6 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



Namb of the Object 
OF Conception 



Location of the ribs . 
Location of the lungs . 
Location of the heart . 
Location of the wrist . 
Location of the ankles 
Location of the waist . 
Location of the hips . 
Location of the knuckles 
Location of the elbows 
Right and left hand 
Cheek . 
Forehead 
Throat . 
Knee . 
Stomach 

Dew 

The seasons 
Hail . 
Rainbow 
Sunrise 
Sunset . 
Clouds . 
Stars . 
Moon . 

Island . 
Beach . 
Woods . 
River . 
Pond . 
Hill . . 
Brook . 

Triangle 
Square . 
Circle . 
Number five 



Per Cent 


OF Children 


Ignorant of it 




In Boston 


In Kansas City 




White 


Colored 


go.5 


13-6 


6.4 


8i. 


26. 


44.6 


80. 


18.5 


18. 1 


70.5 


3- 




65.5 


14.1 




52.S 


14. 


4.2 


45- 


14- 


4.2 


36. 


2.9 


8.5 


25- 


1-5 




21.5 


I. 


10.2 


18. 


•5 




15- 


•5 




13-5 


I.I 




7- 


1.6 




6. 


27.2 


45-9 


78. 


391 


70.2 


75-5 


31.8 


56.1 


73- 


13-6 


18.1 


65. 


10.3 


2.1 


56.S 


16.6 




53-5 


19.5 




35- 


7.3 




14. 


3- 




7. 


26. 


53. 


87.5 






55-5 






53.5 






48. 






40. 






28. 






15- 






92. 






56. 






35- 






28.5 







THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 



17 



Name of the Object 
OF Conception 



Per Cent, of Children 
Ignorant of it 



Number four 
Number three 



Watchmaker at work 

File 

Plow 

Spade 

Hoe 

Bricklayer at work 

Shoemaker at work 

Ax . 

Green 

Blue 

Yellow 

Red 



Origin of leathern things 
Maxim or proverb . . . . 
Origin of cotton things . . 

Origin of flour 

Ability to knit 

Origin of bricks .... 
Shape of the world . . . 
Origin of woolen things . 

Kindergarten 

Bathing 

Story telling 

Origin of wooden things . 
Origin of butter .... 
Origin of meat (from animals) 

Sewing 

Given musical tone 
Cannot beat time regularly . 
Have never saved cents at 
Never been in the country 
Can repeat no verse . . 
Source of milk .... 



home 



In Boston 



17. 

8. 



68. 

65. 

64.S 

62. 

61. 

44-5 

25- 

12. 

IS- 
14. 

13-5 
9- 

93-4 
91.S 
90. 
89. 



70.3 

69. 

67.5 

64.5 

58. 

55- 

50.5 

48. 

47-5 
40. 

39- 
36. 

35-5 

28. 

20.5 



In Kansas City 
White Colored 



30.1 


49-7 


20.8 


36.1 


13-9 


8.5 


7.3 


IS- 


5- 


10.6 


lO.I 


2.1 


8.7 




18.4 


S3- 



50.8 



72.3 



3S-7 


IS- 


34.7 


S7.4 


33-1 


S3- 


46. 


47- 


5S- 


44. 


13-4 




23.6 


12.7 


19-3 


6.4 


6.7 




8-3 


12.7 


234 




8.2 


12.7 


13-1 


19. 


20. 


42.S 


4. 





i8 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



Namb of the Object 
OF Concept 



Per cent, 
of 

Ignorance 



Per cent. 

of 
Ignorance 



150 Girls 150 Boys 



Beehive 81 75 

Ant 59 60 

Squirrel 69 50 

Snail 69 73 

Robin 69 44 

Sheep 67 47 

Bee 46 32 

Frog 53 38 

Pig 45 27 

Chicken 35 21 

Worm 21 17 

Butterfly 14 16 

Hen 15 14 

Cow 18 12 



Per -cent. 

of 

Ignorance 

in 

50 Irish 

Children 

86 

74 
66 
92 
64 
62 
52 
54 
38 
32 
26 
26 
18 



Per cent, 
of 

Ignorance 

in 50 
American 
Children 

70 
38 
42 
72 
36 
40 
32 

35 
26 
16 
16 

8 

2 

6 



Per cent. 

of 
Ignorance 
in 64 Kinder- 
garten 
Children 

61 
26 

43 
62 
29 
40 
26 

35 
22 
22 

9 

9 
14 
10 



Growing clover .... 59 68 84 42 29 

Growing corn .... 58 50 60 68 32 

Growing potatoes ... 55 54 62 44 34 

Growing buttercup ... 50 51 66 40 31 

Growing rose .... 48 48 60 42 33 

Growing dandelion . . . 44 42 62 34 31 

Growing apples .... 16 16 18 12 5 



Ribs 88 92 98 82 68 

Ankles 58 52 62 40 38 

Waist 53 52 64 32 36 

Hips 50 47 72 31 24 

Knuckles 27 27 34 12 23 

Elbow 19 32 36 16 12 

Right from left hand . . 20 8 14 20 4 

Wrist 21 34 44 9 19 

Cheek 10 12 14 14 4 

Forehead 10 n 12 10 7 

Throat 10 18 14 16 14 

Knee 4 5 2 10 2 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 



19 



Name op the Object 
OF Concept 



Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent, 
of 



150 girls 



Dew 64 

The seasons 59 

Hail 75 

Rainbow 59 

Sunrise 71 

Sunset 47 

Star IS 

Island 74 

Beach 82 

Woods 46 

River 38 

Pond 31 

Hill 23 

Number five 26 

Number four . . . . 15 

Number three .... 7 



of 


of 


of 


of 


lorance 


Ignorance 


Ignorance 


Ignorance 


in 


in 


in so 


in 64 Kinder- 


oboys 


SO Irish 


American 


garten 




Children 


Children 


Children 


63 


92 


52 


57 


SO 


68 


48 


41 


61 


84 


52 


53 


61 


70 


38 


38 


53 


70 


36 


53 


49 


52 


32 


29 


10 


12 


4 


7 


78 


84 


64 


55 


49 


60 


34 


32 


36 


46 


32 


27 


44 


62 


12 


13 


34 


42 


24 


28 


22 


30 


12 


19 


16 


22 


24 


12 


10 


16 


14 


7 


6 


12 


8 






The first Boston table is based upon about equal numbers 
of boys and girls, and children of Irish and American parent- 
age greatly predominate; there are 21 Germans, and 19 are 
divided between 8 other nationalities. 14 per cent, of all ex- 
amined did not know their age ; 6 per cent, were four, 37 per 
cent, were five, 25 per cent, were six, 12 per cent, were seven, 
and 2 per cent, were eight years old. The returns were care- 
fully tabulated to determine the influence of age, which seems 
surprisingly unpronounced, indicating, so far as the small num- 
bers go, a slight value of age per se as an index of ripeness 
for school. 

In the second table, which is based on Boston children, only 
columns 2 and 3 are based upon larger numbers and upon less 
carefully restricted selections from the aggregate returns. In 



20 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

34 representative questions out of 49, the boys surpass the 
girls, as the German boys did in 75 per cent, of the Berhn 
questions. The girls excel in knowledge of the parts of the 
body, home and family life, rainbows, in conception of square, 
circle, and triangle, but not in that of cube, sphere, and 
pyramid, which is harder and later. Their stories are more 
imaginative, while their knowledge of things outward and re- 
mote, their power to sing and articulate correctly from dicta- 
tion, their acquaintance with number and animals, is distinctly 
less than that of the boys. The Berlin report infers that the 
more common, near, or easy a notion is, the more likely are 
the girls to excel the boys, and vice versa. Save possibly 
in the knowledge of the parts of the body, our returns do 
not indicate difference between the sexes. Boys do seem, 
however, more likely than girls to be ignorant of common 
things right about them, of which knowledge is wont to 
be assumed. Column 4 shows that the Irish children tested 
were behind others on nearly all topics. The Irish girls 
decidedly outrank the Irish boys, the advantage to the 
sex being outweighed by the wider knowledge of the 
boys of other nationalities. Whether, however, the five- 
and six-year-old Irish boys are not after all so consti- 
tuted as to surpass their precocious American playmates 
later in school or adult life, as since Sigismund, many think 
" slow " children generally do, is one of the most serious 
questions for the philosophical educator. Column 6 shows 
in a striking way the advantage of the kindergarten children, 
without regard to nationality, over all others. Most of the 
latter tested were from the charity kindergartens, so that 
superior intelligence of home surroundings can hardly be as- 
sumed. Many of them had attended kindergarten but a short 
time, and the questions were so ordered that the questioners 
who had a special interest in the kindergarten should not know 
till near the end of the tests whether or not the children had 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 21 

ever attended it. On the other hand, a somewhat larger pro- 
portion of the children from the kindergarten had been in the 
country. Yet, on the whole, we seem to have here an illustra- 
tion of the law that we really see not what is near or im- 
presses the retina, but what the attention is called and held 
to, and what interests are awakened and words found for. Of 
nearly thirty primary teachers questioned as to the difference 
between children from kindergartens and others, four saw no 
difference, and all the rest thought them better fitted for 
school work, instancing superior use of language, skill with 
the hand and slate, quickness, power of observation, singing, 
number, love of work, neatness, politeness, freedom from the 
benumbing school bashfulness, or power to draw from dicta- 
tion. Many thought them at first more restless and talkative. 
There are many other details and more or less probable 
inferences, but the above are the chief. The work was labo- 
rious, involving about fifty thousand items in all. These re- 
sults are, it is believed, to be in some degree the first opening 
of a field which should be specialized, and in which single 
concept groups should be subjected to more detailed study 
with larger numbers of children. One difficulty is to get 
essential points to test for. If these are not characteristic 
and typical, all such work is worthless. We believe that not 
only practical educational conclusions of great scope and im- 
portance may be based on or illustrated by such results, but, 
though many sources of inaccuracy may limit their value, that 
they are of great importance for anthropology and psychology. 
It is characteristic of an educated man, says Aristotle in sub- 
stance, not to require a degree of scientific exactness on any 
subject greater than that which the subject admits. As scien- 
tific methods advance, not only are increasingly complex mat- 
ters subjected to them, but probabilities (which guide nearly 
all our acts) more and more remote from mathematical cer- 
tainty are valued. 



2 2 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Steinthal tells an apposite story of six German gentlemen 
riding socially in a coup6 all day, and as they approached the 
station where they were to separate, one proposed to tell the 
vocation of each of the others, who were strangers to him, if 
they would write without hesitation an answer to the question. 
What destroys its own offspring ? One wrote, Vital force. 
"You," said the questioner, "are a biologist." Another 
wrote, War. "You," he said, "are a soldier." Another 
wrote, Kronos, and was correctly pronounced a philologist ; 
while the publicist revealed himself by writing. Revolution, 
and the farmer by writing. She bear. This fable teaches 
the law of apperception. As Don Quixote saw an army in 
a flock of sheep and a giant in a windmill, as some see 
all things in the light of politics, others in that of religion, 
education, etc., so the Aryan races apperceived the clouds as 
cows and the rain as their milk, the sun as a horse, the light- 
ning as an arrow ; and so the children apperceive rain as God 
pouring down water, thunder as barrels or boards falling, or 
cannon, heaven as a well-appointed nursery, etc. They bring 
more or less developed apperceiving organs with them into 
school, each older and more familiar concept gaining more 
apperceptive power over the newer concepts and percepts 
by use. The older impressions are on the lurch, as it were, 
for the new ones, and mental freedom and all-sidedness 
depend on the number and strength of these appropriating 
concepts. If these are very few, as with children, teaching 
is like pouring water from a big tub into a small, narrow- 
necked bottle. A teacher who acts upon the now every- 
where admitted fallacy that knowledge of the subject is all 
that is needed in teaching children, pours at random onto 
more than into the children, talking to rather than with 
them, and gauging what he gives rather than what they re- 
ceive. All now agree that the mind can learn only what is 
related to other things learned before, and that we must start 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 



23 



from the knowledge that the children really have and develop 
this as germs, otherwise we are showing objects that require 
close scrutiny only to indirect vision, or talking to the blind 
about color. Alas for the teacher who does not learn more 
from his children than he can ever hope to teach them ! Just 
in proportion as teachers do this do they cease to be merely 
mechanical, and acquire interest, perhaps enthusiasm, and 
surely an all-compensating sense of growth in their work and 
life. 

From the above tables it seems not too much also to 
infer: (i) That there is next to nothing of pedagogic value, 
the knowledge of which it is safe to assume at the outset 
of school life. Hence the need of objects and the danger 
of books and word cram. Hence many of the best primary 
teachers in Germany spend from two to four or even six 
months in talking of objects and drawing them before any be- 
ginning of what we till lately have regarded as primary- 
school work. {2) The best preparation parents can give their 
children for good school training is to make them acquainted 
with natural objects, especially with the sights and sounds 
of the country, and to send them to good and hygienic, as dis- 
tinct from the most fashionable, kindergartens. (3) Every 
teacher on starting with a new class or in a new locality, to 
make sure that his efforts along some lines are not utterly 
lost, should undertake to explore carefully section by section 
children's minds with all the tact and ingenuity he can 
command and acquire, to determine exactly what is already 
shown ; and every normal-school pupil should undertake work 
of the same kind as an essential part of his training. (4) The 
concepts which are most common in the children of a given 
locality are the earhest to be acquired, while the rarer ones 
are later. This order may in teaching generally be assumed 
as a natural one, e.g., apples (as appealing directly to the child 
without mediate process) first and wheat last. This order, 



24 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

however, varies very greatly with every change of environment, 
so that the results of explorations of children's minds in one 
place cannot be assumed to be valid for those of another save 
within comparatively few concept spheres. 

The high rate of ignorance indicated in the table may sur- 
prise most persons who will be likely to read this report, 
because the childhood they know will be much above the 
average of intelligence here sought, and because the few mem- 
ories of childhood which survive in adult life necessarily bear 
but slight traces of imperfections and are from many causes 
illusory. Skeins and spools of thread were said to grow on 
the sheep's back or on bushes, stockings on trees, butter to 
come from buttercups, flour to be made of beans, oats to grow on 
oaks, bread to be swelled yeast, trees to be stuck in the ground 
by God and to be rootless, meat to be dug from the ground, 
and potatoes to be picked from the trees. Cheese is squeezed 
butter, the cow says "bow wow," the pig purrs or burrows, 
worms are not distinguished from snakes, moss from the 
" toad's umbrella," bricks from stones, etc. An oak may be 
known only as an acorn tree or a button tree, a pine only as 
a needle tree, a bird's nest only as its bed, etc. So that while 
no one child has all these misconceptions, none are free from 
them, and thus the liabiHties are great that, in this chaos of 
half -assimilated impressions, half right, half wrong, some 
lost link may make utter nonsense or mere verbal cram of the 
most careful instruction, as in the cases of children referred 
to above, who knew much by rote about a cow, its milk, horns, 
leather, meat, etc., but yet were sure from the picture book 
that it was no bigger than a small mouse. 

For 86 per cent, of the above questions, the average intelli- 
gence of thirty-six country children who were tested ranks 
higher than that of the city children of the table, and in many 
items very greatly exceeds it. The subject-matter of primers 
for the latter is in great part still traditionally of country life ; 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 25 

hence the danger of unwarranted presupposition is consider- 
able. As our methods of teaching grow natural we realize 
that city hfe is unnatural, and that those who grow up with- 
out knowing the country are defrauded of that without which 
childhood can never be complete or normal. On the whole, 
the material of the city is no doubt inferior in pedagogic value 
to country experience. A few days in the country at the age 
of five or six has raised the level of many a city child's intelli- 
gence more than a term or two of school training without could 
do. It is there, too, that the foundations of a love of natural 
science are best laid. We cannot accept without many careful 
qualifications the evolutionary dictum that the child's mental 
development should repeat that of the race. Unlike primitive 
man, the child has a feeble body and is ever influenced by a 
higher culture about him. Yet from the primeval intimacy 
with the qualities and habits of plants, with the instincts of 
animals, — so like those of children, — with which hawking 
and trapping, the riding on instead of some distance behind 
horses, etc., made men familiar ; from primitive industries 
and tools as first freshly suggested, if we believe Geiger, from 
the normal activities of the human organism, especially of 
the tool of tools, the hand ; from primitive shelter, cooking, 
and clothing, with which anthropological researches make us 
familiar, it is certain that not a few educational elements of 
great value can be selected and systematized for children, an 
increasing number of them, in fact, being already in use for 
juvenile games and recreations and for the vacation pastimes 
of adults. A country barn, a forest with its gloom and awe, 
its vague fears and indefinite sounds, is a great school at this 
age. The making of butter, of which some teachers, after hear- 
ing so often that it grew inside eggs or on ice, or was made 
from buttermilk, think it worth while to make a thimbleful 
in a toy churn at school as an object lesson ; more acquain- 
tance with birds, which, as having the most perfect senses, 



26 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

and most constant motion in several elements, even Leopardi 
could panegyrize as the only real things of joy in the universe, 
and which the strange power of flight makes ideal beings 
with children, and whose nests were sometimes said to grow 
on trees ; more knowledge of kitchen chemistry, of foods, 
their preparation and origin ; wide prospects for the eyes — 
these elements constitute a more pedagogic industrial 
training for young children, because more free and play- 
like, than sewing, or cooking, or whittling, or special 
trade schools can, and are besides more hygienic. Many 
children locate all that is good and imperfectly known 
in the country, and nearly a dozen volunteered the state- 
ment that good people when they die go to the coun- 
try — even from Boston. It is things that live and, as it were, 
detach themselves from their background by moving that 
catch the eye and with it the attention, and the subjects which 
occupy and interest the city child are mainly in motion and 
therefore transient, while the country child comes to know 
objects at rest better. The country child has more soHtude, 
is likely to develop more independence and is less likely to be 
prematurely caught up into the absorbing activities and 
throbbing passions of manhood, and becomes more familiar 
with the experiences of primitive man. The city child knows 
a little of many more things and so is more liable to superfi- 
ciality and has a wider field of error. At the same time, it 
has two great advantages over the country child, in knowing 
more of human nature and in entering school with a much 
better developed sense of rhythm and all its important impli- 
cations. On the whole, however, additional force seems thus 
given to the argument for excursions, by rail or otherwise, 
regularly provided for the poorer children whose life condi- 
tions are causing the race to degenerate in the great centers 
of population, unfavorable enough for those with good homes 
or even for adults. 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 27 

Words, in connection with rhyme, rhythm, alhteration, ca- 
dence, etc., or even without these, simply as sound pictures, 
often absorb the attention of children and yield them a really 
aesthetic pleasure either quite independently of their meaning 
or to the utter bewilderment of it. They hear fancied words 
in noises and sounds of nature and animals, and are persist- 
ent punners. As butterflies make butter or eat it or give it 
by squeezing, so grasshoppers give grass, bees give beads 
and beans, kittens grow on the pussy willow, and all honey 
is from honeysuckles, and even a poplin dress is made of 
poplar trees. When the cow lows it somehow blows its own 
horn ; crows and scarecrows are confounded ; ant has some 
subtle relationship to aunt ; angleworm suggests angle or 
triangle or ankle ; Martie eats " tomarties " ; a holiday is a 
day to " holler " on ; Harry O'Neil is nicknamed Harry Oat- 
meal ; isosceles is somehow related to sausages ; October 
suggests knocked over; "I never saw a hawk, but I can 
hawk and spit too;" "I will not sing do re mi, but do re 
yon;'' "Miss Eaton will eat us" — these and many more 
from the questioners' notes ; the story of the child who, 
puzzled by the unfamiliar reflexive use of the verb, came 
to associate "now I lay me," etc., with a lama; of the 
child who wondered what kind of a bear was the consecrated 
cross-eyed bear, as he understood the hymn " The consecrated 
cross I'd bear"; or of another, who was for years stultified 
as against a dead blank wall whenever the phrase " answer 
sought " occurred, suggest to us how, more or less consciously 
and more or less seriously, a child may be led, in the ab- 
sence of corrective experience, to the most fantastic and 
otherwise unaccountable distortions of facts by shadowy 
word specters or husks. J^ 

In many of the expressions quoted the child seems playing 
with relations once seriously held, and its "fun" to be joy 
over but lately broken mental fetters. Some at least of the 



28 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

not infrequently quite unintelligible statements or answers 
may perhaps be thus accounted for. Again, the child more 
than the adult thinks in pictures, gestures, and inarticulate 
sounds. The distinction between real and verbal knowledge 
has been carefully and constantly kept in mind by the ques- 
tioners. Yet of the objects in the above table, except a very 
few, like triangle and sparrow, a child may be said to know 
almost nothing, at least for school purposes, if he has no gen- 
erally recognized name for them. The far greater danger is the 
converse, that only the name and not the thing itself will be 
known. To test for this danger was, with the exceptions 
presently to be noted, our constant aim, as it is that of true 
education to obviate it. The danger, however, is after all 
quite limited here, for the linguistic imperfections of children 
are far more often shown in combining words than in naming 
the concrete things they know or do not know. To name an 
object is a passion with them, for it is to put their own mark 
upon it, to appropriate it. From the talk, which most chil- 
dren hear and use, to book language is again an immense step. 
Words live only in the ear and mouth, and are pale and 
corpse-like when addressed to the eye. What we want, and 
indeed are likely soon to have, are carefully arranged child 
vocabularies and dictionaries of both verbal forms and mean- 
ings, to show teachers just the phonic elements and vocal 
combinations children have most trouble with, the words they 
most readily and surely acquire, their number and order in 
each thought sphere — and the attributes and connotations 
most liable to confuse them. To that work it is believed 
the method here employed has already furnished valuable 
material in protocol soon to be augmented and digested. 

To specify a few items more fully, the four color questions 
were designed to test not color blindness but the power to 
use color names. The Holmgren worsteds were used, from 
which the child was asked to pick out, not colors like others 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 29 

to which its attention is directed without naming them, but 
the color named, to which he has no clew but the name. It 
did not seem safe to complicate the objects of the latter edu- 
cational test with the former, so that some of those marked 
defective in the table may or may not have been color-bHnd. 
Excluding colored and Jewish children, both of whom seem 
to show exceptional percentages, and averaging the sexes, 
both Magnus and Jeffries found a little over two per cent, of 
many thousand children color-blind. The children they 
tested, however, were much older than these, and two or 
three hundred is far too small a number to warrant us, were 
it otherwise allowable, in simply subtracting two per cent, 
and inferring that the remainder were deficient only in knowl- 
edge of the color word. Our figures, then, do not bear upon 
the question whether or not the color sense itself is fully 
developed before the age of five or six. Again, number can- 
not be developed to any practical extent without knowledge 
of the number name. Moreover, as Wundt's careful experi- 
ments show, the eye can apprehend but three of the small- 
est and simplest objects, unless they are arranged in some 
geometrical order, without taking additional time to count. 
As the chromatic scale grades musical intervals, or the names 
we count by graduate the vague sense of more or less, and, 
later, as visible notes change all musical ideas and possibili- 
ties, so figures or number signs almost create arithmetic. A 
child who seriously says a cat has three or five legs will pick 
out its own, e.g., the fourth seat, in the fifth row in an empty 
schoolroom almost every time by happy guessing, and hold 
up " so many " fingers or blocks, when, if the number name 
five or six were called for and nothing shown, he would be 
quite confused. In our tests the number name was sought 
because it is that which is mainly serviceable for educational 
purposes. As to the physiological and geographical ques- 
tions little need be said. Joint, flesh, and vein are often 



30 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

unknown terms, or joint is where the bone is broken, and there 
are stones in the knees. Within the skin is blood and some- 
thing hard, perhaps wood. Physical self -consciousness, which 
is in little danger of becoming morbid at this age, begins with 
recognition of the hand, then of the foot, because these are 
the most mobile parts, but has not often reached the face at 
this age, and blushing is rare ; while psychic self-conscious- 
ness is commonly only of pain, either internal, as of stomach 
ache, or peripheral, as of cuts, bruises, etc. The world is 
square, straight, or fiat, and if the other side has been 
thought of it is all woods or water or ice, or where saved peo- 
ple or Protestants, or anything much heard of but little seen, 
are ; if we go to the edge of the world we come to water or 
may fall off, or it may be like a house and we live on top. 
The first notion of a hill may be of some particular pile of 
sand, perhaps on the molding board, three inches high, or a 
rubbish heap in the back yard, or a slant where a sled 
will run alone ; but a comprehensive idea of hill with oppo- 
site sides, though simpler and easier than most geographical 
categories, is by no means to be assumed. 

If children are pressed to answer questions somewhat 
beyond their ken, they often reply confusedly and at random, 
while if others beside them are questioned they can answer 
well ; some are bolder and invent things on the spot if they 
seem to interest the questioner, while others catch quick 
subtle suggestions from the form of the question, accent, 
gesture, feature, etc., so that what seems originality is really 
mind reading, giving back our very thought, and is sometimes 
only a direct reproduction, with but little distortion because 
little apprehension, of what parents or teachers have lately 
told them. But there are certain elements which every tact- 
ful and experienced friend of children learns to distinguish 
from each of these with considerable accuracy — elements 
which, from whatever source, spring from deep roots 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 



31 



in the childish heart, as distinct from all these as are 
Grimm's tales from those of some of our weakly juvenile 
weeklies. These are generally not easily accessible. I could 
not persuade an old nurse to repeat to me a nonsensical song 
I half overheard that delighted a two-year-old child, and the 
brothers Grimm experienced a similar difficulty in making 
their collections. As many workingmen nail a horseshoe 
over their door for luck, and many people really prefer to 
begin nothing important on Friday, who will not confess to a 
trace of superstition in either case, so children cling to their 
"old credulities to nature dear," refusing every attempt to 
gain their full confidence or explore secret tracts in their 
minds, as a well-developed system of insane illusions may 
escape the scrutiny of the most skillful alienist. As a reason- 
ing electric light might honestly doubt the existence of such 
things as shadows because, however near or numerous, they 
are always hidden from it, so the most intelligent adults quite 
commonly fail to recognize sides of their own children's souls 
which can be seen only by strategy. A boy and girl often 
play under my window as I write, and unconscious words 
often reveal what is passing in their minds when either is 
quite alone, and it is often very absurd or else meaning- 
less, but they run away with shame and even blushes if they 
chance to look up suddenly and catch me listening. Yet 
who of us has not secret regions of soul to which no friend 
is ever admitted, and which we ourselves shrink from full 
consciousness of } Many children half believe the doll feels 
cold or blows, that it pains flowers to tear or burn them, 
or that in summer when the tree is alive it makes it ache 
to pound or chop it. Of 48 children questioned 20 believed 
sun, moon, or stars to live; 15 thought that a doll, and 16, 
that flowers, would suffer pain if burned. Children who are 
accounted dull in school work are more apt to be imagi- 
native and animistic. 



32 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The chief field for such fond and often secret childish fan- 
cies is the sky. About three fourths of all questioned 
thought the world a plain, and many described it as round 
like a dollar, while the sky is like a flattened bowl turned 
over it. The sky is often thin, one might easily break 
through ; half the moon may be seen through it, while the 
other half is this side ; it may be viade of snow, but is so 
large that there is mncJi floor sweeping to be done in heaven. 
Some thought the snn went down at night into the ground 
or just behind certain houses, and went across, on, or under 
the ground to go up, out of, or off the water in the morning ; 
but 48 per cent, of all thought that at night it goes or rolls or 
flies, is bloivn or walks, or God pulls it up higher out of sight. 
He takes it into heaven, and perhaps puts it to bed, and even 
takes off its clothes and puts them on in the morning, or 
again it lies under the trees where the angels viind it, or goes 
through and shines on the upper side of the sky, or goes into 
or behind the inoon, as the moon is behind it in the day. It 
may stay where it is, only we cannot see it, for it is dark, 
or the dark rains doivn so, and it conies out whejt it gets light 
so it can see. More than half the children questioned con- 
ceived the sun as never more than 40 degrees from the zenith, 
and, naturally enough, city children knew little of the horizon. 
So the moon (still italicizing where the exact words of the 
children are given) comes aroiind zvhe^i it is a bright night 
and people ivant to walk, or forget to light some lamps ; it 
follows us about and has nose and eyes, while it calls the 
stars into, under, or behind it at night, and they may be 
made of bits of it. Sometimes the moon is rotmd a mofith 
or tzuo, then it is a rim, or a piece is cut off, or it is half 
stuck or Jialf buttoned into the sky. The stars may be sparks 
from fire engines or houses, or wdth higher intelligence they 
are silver, or God lights them with matches and blozus them 
out or opens the door and calls them in in the morning. Only 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 33 

in a single case were any of the heavenly bodies conceived as 
openings in the sky to let light or glory through, or as eyes 
of supernatural beings, — a fancy so often ascribed to children 
and so often found in juvenile hterature. Thunder, which, 
anthropologists tell us, is or represents the highest God to 
most savage races, was apperceived as God groaning or kick- 
ing, or rolling barrels about, or turning a big handle, or 
grinding snow, zvalking loud, breaking something, throwing 
logs, havijig coal rnn in, pounding about with a big hammer, 
rattliiig houses, hitting the clouds, or clouds bumping or clap- 
ping together or bursting, or else it was merely ice sliding off 
lots of houses, or cannon in the city or sky, hard rain dozvn 
the chimney, or big rocks potmding, or piles of boards fall- 
ing down, or very hard rain, hail, or wind. Lightning is God 
putting out his finger or opening a door, or turning a gas 
quick, or (very common) strikifig many snatches at once, 
throwing stones and iron for sparks, setting paper afire, or it 
is light going outside and inside the sky, or stars falling. 
God keeps rain in heaven in a big sifik, rows of buckets^ a big 
tub or barrels, and they run over or he lets it down with a 
tvater hose through a sieve, a dipper with holes, or sprinkles 
or tips it down or turns a faucet. God makes it in heaven 
out of nothing or out of water, or it gets up by splashing up, 
or he dips it np off the roof, or it rains tip off the ground 
when we don^t see it. The clouds are close to the sky ; they 
move because the eartJi moves and makes them. They are 
dirty, muddy things, or blankets, or doors of heaven, and are 
made of fog, of steam that makes the sun go, of smoke, of 
tvhite wool or feathers and birds, or lace or cloth. In their 
changing forms very many children, whose very life is fancy, 
think they see veritable men, or more commonly, because 
they have so many more forms, animals' faces ; and very often 
God, Santa Glaus, angels, etc., are also seen. Closely con- 
nected with the above are the religious concepts so common 



34 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

with children. God is a big, perhaps blue man, very often 
seen in the sky on or in the clouds, in the church, or even 
street. He came m our gate, comes to see us sometimes. He 
lives in a big palace or a big brick or stone house on the sky. 
He makes lamps, babies, dogs, trees, money, etc., and the 
angels zvork for him. He looks like the priest, Frobel, papa, 
etc., and they like to look at him, and a few would like to be 
God. He lights the stars so lie can see to go on the sidewalk 
or into the church. Birds, children, Santa Claus, live with 
him, and most but not all like him better than they do the 
latter. When people die they just go, or are put in a hole, 
or a box or a black wagon that goes to heaven, or \hQ.y fly up 
or are drawn or slimg up into the sky where God catches 
them. They never can get out of the hole, and yet all good 
people somehow get where God is. He lifts them up, they 
go up on a ladder or rope, or they carry them up, but keep 
their eyes shut so they do not know the way, or they are 
shoved up through a hole. When children get there they 
have candy, rocking-horses, guns, and everything in the toy- 
shop or picture book, play marbles, top, ball, cards, hockey, 
hear brass bands, have nice clothes, gold watches, and pets, 
ice cream and soda water, and no school. There are men 
who died in the war made into angels, and dolls with broken 
heads go there. Some think they must go through the church 
to get there, a few thought the horse cars run there, and one 
said that the birds that grow on apple trees are drawn up there 
by the moo7t. The bad place is like an oven or a police sta- 
tion, where it burns, yet is all dark, and folks want to get 
back, and God kills people or beats them, with a cane. God 
makes babies in heaven, though the Holy Mother and even 
Santa Claus make some. He lets them dozvn or drops them, 
and the women or doctors catch them, or he leaves them on 
the sidewalk, or brings them dozvn a wooden ladder back- 
wards and pulls it up again, or mamma or the doctor or the 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 35 

nurse go up and fetch them, sometimes in a balloon, or they 
Jly down and lose off their wings in some place or other and 
forget where they came from, or jump down to Jesns, who 
gives them, around. They were also often said to be found 
in flour barrels, and t\v& flour sticks ever so long you know, or 
they grow in cabbages, or God puts them in water, perhaps 
in the sewer, and the doctor gets them out and takes them to 
sick folks that want them, or the milkman brings them early in 
the morning, they are dug out of the ground, or bought at the 
baby store. Sometimes God puts ojt a few things or else sends 
them along if he don' t forget it ; this shows that no one since 
Basedow believes in telling children the truth in all things. 

Not many children have or can be made to disclose many such 
ideas as the above, and indeed they seem to be generally al- 
ready on the ebb at this age, and are sometimes timidly intro- 
duced by, as if, some say, it is like, or / used to think. Clear 
and confident notions on the above topics are the exception 
and not the rule, yet children have some of them, while some 
are common to many, indeed to most, children. They represent 
a drift of consentient infantile philosophy about the universe 
not without systematic coherence, although intimidated and 
broken through at every point by fragmentary truths, often 
only verbal indeed, without insight or realization of a higher 
order, so that the most diametrical contradictions often sub- 
sist peacefully side by side, and yet they are ever forming 
again at lower levels of age and intelligence. In all that is 
remote, the real and ideal fade into each other like clouds and 
mountains in the horizon, or as poetry, which keeps alive the 
standpoints of an earlier culture, coexists with science. Chil- 
dren are often hardly conscious of these contradictions at all, 
and the very questions that bring them to mind and invite 
them to words at the same time often abash the child and 
produce the first disquieting self-consciousness of the absurdity 
of his fond fancies that have felt not only life but character in 



36 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

natural objects. Between the products of childish spontaneity, 
where the unmistakable child's mark is seen, and those of 
really happy suggestion by parents, etc., the distinction is as 
hard as anywhere along the line between heredity and tradition. 
It is enough that these fancies are like Galton's composite por- 
traits, resultants in form and shading of the manifold deepest 
impressions which what is within and what is without have 
together made upon the child's soul in these spheres of ideas. 
Those indicated above represent many strata of intelligence 
up through which the mind is passing very rapidly and with 
quite radical transformations. Each stratum was once, with 
but a little elaboration, or is now somewhere, the highest 
culture, relegated to and arrested in an earlier stage as civili- 
zation and educational methods advance. In children belief 
in the false is as necessary as it is inevitable, for the proper 
balance of head and heart, and happy the child who has be- 
lieved or loved only healthy, unaffected, platonic lies like the 
above, which will be shed with its milk teeth when more solid 
mental pabulum can be digested. It is possible that the pres- 
ent shall be so attractive and preoccupying that the child 
never once sends his thoughts to the remote in time and 
place, and these baby fancies — ever ready to form at a touch, 
which make the impartation of truth, however carefully 
put, on these themes impossible before its time; which, when 
long forgotten, yet often reverberate, if their old chords be 
struck in adults, to the intensity of fanaticism or even delu- 
sion — shall be quite repressed. If so, one of the best ele- 
ments of education which comes from long experience in laying 
aside a lower for a higher phase of culture by doubting 
opportunely, judiciously, and temperately is lost. 

De Ouincey's^ pseudopia is thought by Dr. E. H. Clark 
to be common with children ; but although about 40 were 

1 Collected Writings (ed. by D. Masson), Vol. XIII, pp. 300-318 and 350- 
351. A. and C. Black, London, 1897. 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 37 

asked to describe what they saw with their eyes shut, it 
is impossible to judge whether they visuahze in any such 
distinctive sense as Mr. Galton has described, or only imagine 
and remember, often with Homeric circumstance, but with 
less picturesque vividness. Childish thought is very largely 
in visual terms ; hence the need of object {Anschaicungs) 
lessons, and hence, too, it comes that most of the above 
questions address the eye without any such intent. If phonic 
symbols could be made pictorial, as they were originally, 
and as illustrated primers made them in a third and still 
remoter sense, the irrational elements in learning to read 
would be largely obviated. Again, out of 53 children 21 
described the tones of certain instruments as colored.^ The 
colors, or "photism," thus suggested, though so far as tested, 
constant from week to week in the same child, had no agree- 
ment for different instruments, a drum, e.g., suggesting yellow 
to one child and black or red to another, and the tone of a fife 
being described as pale or bright, light or dark colored, inten- 
sity and saturation varying greatly with different children. 
For this and other forms of association or analogies of sensa- 
tions of a large and not yet explored class so common in 
children, many data for future study were gathered. This was 
also the case with their powers of time and tone reproduction, 
and their common errors in articulation, which have suggested 
other and more detailed researches, some of which are already 
in progress. 

Each child was asked to name three things right and three 
things wrong to do, and nearly half could do so. In no case 
were the two confused, indicating not necessarily intuitive 
perception, but a general consensus in what is allowed and 
forbidden children at home, and how much better and more 

1 In the sense of Bleuler and Lehmann. See their treatise, Zwangmdssige 
Lichtempfinduftgen durch Schall, Fues, Leipzig, 1881 ; also, Lazarus's Das 
Leben der Seek, 3. Aufl., p. 131. F. Dummler, Berlin, 1897. 



38 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

surely they learn to do than to know. Wrong things were 
specified much more readily and by more children than right 
things, and also in much greater variety. In about 450 
answers 53 wrong acts are specified, while in over 350 answers 
only 34 different good acts are named. The more frequent an- 
swers are to mind and be good, or to disobey, be naughty, lie, 
and say bad words ; but the answers of the girls differ from 
the boys in two marked ways : they more often name specific 
acts and nearly twice as often conventional ones, the former 
difference being most common in naming right, the latter in 
naming wrong, things. Boys say it is wrong to steal, fight, 
kick, break windows, get drunk, stick pins into others, or to 
"sass," "cuss," or shoot them; while girls are more apt to 
say it is wrong not to comb the hair, to get butter on the 
dress, climb trees, unfold the hands, cry, catch flies, etc. The 
right things seem, it must be confessed, comparatively very 
tame and unattractive, and while the genius of an Aristotle 
could hardly extract categories or infer intuitions by classifi- 
cation from either list, it is very manifest that the lower 
strata of conscience are dislike of dirt and fear. Pure intui- 
tionalists may like to know that over a dozen children were 
found who convinced their questioners that they thought they 
ought not to say bad words if no one heard them, or lie if not 
found out, etc., or who felt sick at the stomach when they 
had been bad ; but the soap and water or sand with which 
their mouths are sometimes washed after bad words in 
kindergartens, or the red pepper administered at home after 
lies, may possibly have something to do with the latter 
phenomenon. 

From several hundred drawings, with the name given them 
by the child written by the teacher, the chief difference in- 
ferred is in concentration. Some make faint, hasty lines, 
representing all the furniture of a room, or sky and stars, or all 
the objects they can think of, while others concentrate upon a 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 39 

single object. It is a girl with buttons, a house with a keyhole 
or steps, a man with a pipe or heels or ring made grotesquely- 
prominent. The development of observation and sense of 
form is best seen in the pictures of men. The earliest and 
simplest representation is a round head, two eyes, and legs. 
Later comes mouth, then nose, then hair, then ears. Arms 
like legs, at first, grow directly from the head, rarely from the 
legs, and are seldom fingerless, though sometimes it is doubt- 
ful whether several arms, or fingers from head and legs 
without arms, are meant. Of 44 human heads only 9 are in 
profile. This is one of the many analogies with the rock and 
cave drawings of primitive man, and suggests how Catlin 
came to nearly lose his life by " leaving out the other half " 
in drawing a profile portrait of an Indian chief. Last, as 
least mobile and thus attracting [least attention, comes the 
body ; first round like the head, then elongated, sometimes 
prodigiously, and sometimes articulated into several com- 
partments, and in three cases divided, the upper part of the 
figure being in one place and the lower in another. The 
mind, and not the eye alone, is addressed, for the body is 
drawn and then the clothes are drawn on it (as the child 
dresses), diaphanous and only in outline. Most draw living 
objects, except the kindergarten children, who draw their pat- 
terns. More than two thirds of all objects are decidedly in 
action, and under 18 per cent, are added word pictures or scrib- 
bles called the name of the objects and made to imitate writing 
or letters, as children who cannot talk often make gibbering, 
sputtering sounds to imitate talking. The very earliest pen- 
cilings, commonly of three-year-old children, are mere marks 
to and fro, often nearly in the same line. Of 13 of these, most 
were nearly in the angle described by Javal as corresponding 
to the earliest combination of finger and fore-arm movements, 
and not far from the regulation slant of 52° taught in school 
penmanship. 



40 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Each child was asked to tell a verse or story to be recorded 
verbatim, and nearly half could do so. Children of this age 
are no longer interested in mere animal noises or rhymes or 
nonsense words of the "Mother Goose" order, but every- 
thing to interest them deeply must have a cat, dog, bird, 
baby, another child, or possibly parent or teacher in it, must 
be dramatic and full of action, appeal to the eye as a *' chalk 
talk " or an object lesson, and be copious of details, which 
need be varied but slightly to make the story as good as new 
for the twentieth time. A long gradation of abstractions cul- 
minates here. First, it is a great lesson for the child to 
eliminate touch and recognize objects by the eye alone. The 
first good pictures mentally seen are felt of, turned over with 
much confusion to find the surface smooth. To abstract 
from visual terms to words is still harder. Eyes and tongue 
must work together a long time before the former can be 
eliminated and stories told of objects first absent, then 
remote, then before unknown. Children must be far beyond 
this before they can be interested, e.g., in fairy tales, and 
stories told interest them far more than if read to them, no 
matter how apt the language. They are reproduced about as 
imperfectly as objects are drawn, only a few salient and dis- 
connected points being seized at first, and sentence and 
sequence coming very slowly after many repetitions. Their 
own little faults may be woven in or ascribed to animals or 
even plants in a remote way which they themselves will feel 
at each stage, and the selfish birdie or the runaway squirrel 
or flowers as kind words may be referred to in case of need 
as a reserve moral capital. Why do we never teach maxims 
and proverbs which, when carefully selected, are found so 
effective at this age and teach the best morality embodied 
in the briefest and most impressive way ? 

Of the 36 per cent, or 72 children of the table who never 
saved their pennies, 52 spend them for candy, which growing 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 41 

children need, but the adulterations of which are often nox- 
ious. Of toys, big things please them best. A recent writer 
in Austria fears that school savings banks tend to call atten- 
tion too early to money matters, and to cause its value to be 
dangerously overrated ; but to pass the candy by and drop 
the cents where they are beyond their control for years is 
much less pedagogic than to save them until their sum 
amounts to a total sufficient to buy a larger and more costly, 
and perhaps more keenly desired, toy. 

The next experimental inquiry ^ in the field was also made in 
quest of a natural basis of the first school instruction. If we 
look at the developing effect upon the person of the pupil, 
progress in the upper gymnasial classes is perhaps less than 
in the first year of school, although, if we regard the quantity 
of acquisition or its importance, it is much greater. That the 
matter of instruction is preferred to the development of the 
person of the pupil is the cause of the memory cram and 
neglect of pedagogy, which often makes school keeping, as 
Grimm called it, lower than the work of the day laborer. 
Herbart, Ziller, and Stoy, however, plead for "educating 
instruction," and show will to be rooted in the sphere of 
thought, which should first be moral and religious. Many- 
sided interest is the root and key of all. Interest may be of 
knowledge or of perception, and statistical inquiry might seek 
to determine which class of interests predominate, and 
whether reproduction was slow, confused, partial, or the 
reverse. The Berlin tables showed what ideas were lacking, 
but Lange sought the ideas that were not lacking as a basis 
of school knowledge. The child's soul is no tabula rasa, and 
very suggestive are papers on the best methods of excursions 
for city schools, on the educational value and use of home 
and its environment, and on apperception. 

1 Dr. B. Hartmann, Die Analyse des Kindlichen Gedankenkreises als die 
Naturgemdsse des ersten Schulunterrichts. H. Graser, Annaberg, 1890. 



42 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



Hartmann's tests were made solely, he says, in the inter- 
ests of the Annaberg schools, to determine the natural basis 
of the course of study there for the first year or two. The 
fourteen plainer questions were not enough, and he had not 
heard of the Boston tests, so those of Berlin were largely his 
model. His tests were better than all others in one respect, 
viz., they were repeated five years (i 880-1 884) on as many 
groups of children entering school, and they have given rise 
to analogous tests in other cities, best perhaps in Dobeln. 
For Hartmann's purpose a large number of questions were 
needed, and interests of knowledge must be regarded more 
than those of sympathy or participation. To an Herbartian 
the former seems earlier and richer, but the ideal of normaliz- 
ing a sphere of thought is evident. Concepts likely to be 
wanting in children of that town were excluded in favor of 
those easily accessible to every child, yet those chosen were 
not model or normal in the sense that often others as good 
may have been excluded. The flying, singing lark may be 
seen every day in spring at Annaberg, and if it has not 
been noticed, the child may be inert and indifferent, or its 
senses dull or defective, and this would also be the inference 
had the swallow been chosen. By this method each locality 
will find objects especially prominent and peculiar to it. A 
book by E. Piltz, entitled Uber Naturbeobachtiing des Schillers 
(1882), and Sigismund's Die Faniilie als Schule der Natiir 
(1856), contain good Hsts of topics (the former 700 of them) 
and reports from similar tests. As a manufacturing center of 
passementerie, and a shire town and retail center, Annaberg 
has rich and poor, and its prosperity depends on changes in 
fashions, so that the 265 children entering its schools yearly 
differ greatly. Some children were very bashful on first enter- 
ing school, used to only the local dialect which most teachers 
did not speak, but by beginning with the easiest questions and 
talking of parents and toys these difficulties were minimized. 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 43 

Thus answers were often enigmatical, and much cross and 
indirect questioning was required before the dash which signi- 
fied knowledge on the point, or the plus sign which signi- 
fied its absence, could be made. In all 13 12 children, 660 
boys and 652 girls, were tested, all between 5| and 6| years 
old, the tests being made before and after regular school 
hours by the teacher, who worked with small groups and 
made them answer individually when possible. 

The table below reads as follows : out of 660 boys entering 
schools in Annaberg from 1881 to 1884, 126, or 19 per cent., 
had seen a wild hare, etc. 



,-. 660 

Object 

Boys 

Hare 126 

Squirrel 99 

Flock of sheep . . . . 235 

Starling 85 

Goose 272 

Hen igS 

Cuckoo 6g 

Lark ^6 

Frog 188 

Fish 141 

Bee 75 

Butterfly 287 

Snail 210 

Birch 33 

Pine 14s 

Acorn 17 

Cherry tree 83 

Apple tree 208 

Hazelnut 78 

Flowers 322 

Whortleberry 158 

Moss 130 

Mushroom 113 

Sandpit 5^ 



652 


1312 




Per Cent. 




Girls 


All 


Boys 


Girls 


All 


81 


207 


19 


12 


16 


69 


168 


15 


10 


13 


198 


433 


36 


30 


33 


68 


153 


13 


10 


12 


250 


522 


41 


38 


40 


178 


373 


30 


27 


28 


88 


157 


10 


13 


12 


83 


159 


12 


13 


12 


126 


314 


29 


19 


24 


122 


263 


21 


19 


20 


46 


121 


II 


7 


9 


362 


649 


44 


55 


49 


201 


411 


32 


31 


31 


10 


43 


5 


2 


3 


148 


293 


22 


23 


22 


II 


28 


3 


2 


2 


138 


221 


13 


21 


17 


219 


427 


31 


34 


33 


42 


120 


12 


6 


9 


317 


639 


49 


49 


49 


193 


351 


24 


29 


27 


107 


237 


20 


16 


18 


i6s 


278 


17 


25 


21 


37 


95 


9 


6 


7 



44 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Object ^^ ^52 n'^ 

Boys Girls All Boys 

Quarry 121 105 226 18 

Mine 41 33 74 6 

Tempest 363 424 787 55 

Fog 186 246 432 28 

Clouds 266 293 559 40 

Hailstones 307 315 622 46 

Rainbow 226 264 490 34 

Evening sky 119 166 285 18 

Sunset 82 77 159 12 

Phases of moon .... 148 223 371 22 

Starry sky 349 466 815 53 

Clock (time) 27 18 45 4 

Days of week 54 92 146 8 

Seasons 37 64 loi 6 

Constellations 4 i 5 i 

Dwelling 543 503 1046 82 

Ziircher Square .... 346 328 674 52 

Chief market 471 452 923 71 

Buchholzer Street . . . 278 281 559 42 

Real gymnasium . . . . 133 164 297 20 

Berg church 210 220 430 32 

Catholic church . . . . 231 237 468 35 

Town hall 430 403 833 65 

Post office 297 344 641 45 

Railroad station . . . . 418 433 851 63 

Bahls restaurant .... 167 189 356 25 

Nursery tree 163 180 343 25 

Markus-R6hling(an old mine)i93 267 460 29 

Promenade 228 292 520 35 

Grove 172 253 425 26 

Churchyard 394 469 863 60 

Pdhlberg 217 244 461 33 

Galgenberg 89 89 178 13 

Schreckenberg . . . . 117 112 229 18 

Buchheltz 282 329 611 43 

Frohnau 164 226 390 25 

Wiesenbad 121 159 280 18 

Geyersdorf 139 200 339 21 



[R Cent. 




Girls 


All 


16 


17 


5 


6 


65 


59 


38 


33 


45 


42 


48 


47 


40 


37 


25 


22 


12 


12 


34 


28 


71 


62 


3 


3 


14 


II 


10 


8 





I 


77 


80 


50 


51 


69 


70 


43 


43 


25 


23 


34 


33 


36 


36 


62 


63 


53 


49 


66 


65 


29 


27 


27 


26 


41 


35 


45 


40 


39 


32 


72 


66 


37 


35 


13 


13 


17 


17 


50 


47 


35 


30 


24 


21 


31 


26 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 45 

y-. 660 

Object 

Boys 

Valley 51 

River 150 

Bridge 282 

Water mills 152 

Pond 434 

Meadow 250 

Cornfield 183 

Potato field 345 

Snow landscape .... 289 

Village 158 

Soldiers' monument . . . 180 

Fountain 397 

Carriage driving . . . . 332 

Road 300 

Field works 250 

Garden works 213 

Acute-angled triangle . . 62 

Square loi 

Cube 214 

Circle 280 

Sphere or globe .... 546 

Counting from i to 10 . . 456 

God 370 

Jesus 68 

Bible history 7 

Prayers and songs . . . 122 

Divine service .... 192 

Baptism 118 

Wedding 70 

Father's name and station . 425 

King 52 

Coins 450 

Sickness 356 

Fairy tale 32 

Repetition in speaking . . 480 

Recitation 68 

Repetition in singing . . 226 

Singing songs 102 



652 


1312 




Per Cent. 




Girls 


All 


Boys 


Girls 


All 


59 


IIO 


8 


9 


8 


157 


307 


23 


24 


23 


258 


540 


43 


39 


41 


151 


303 


23 


23 


23 


490 


924 


66 


75 


70 


218 


468 


38 


33 


36 


II I 


294 


28 


17 


22 


358 


703 


S2 


55 


54 


262 


SSI 


44 


40 


42 


175 


333 


24 


27 


25 


136 


316 


27 


21 


24 


394 


791 


60 


60 


60 


362 


694 


50 


55 


S3 


346 


646 


45 


53 


49 


181 


431 


38 


28 


33 


211 


424 


32 


32 


32 


66 


128 


9 


10 


10 


90 


191 


IS 


14 


IS 


293 


507 


32 


45 


39 


284 


564 


42 


43 


43 


510 


1056 


83 


78 


80 


405 


861 


69 


62 


66 


401 


771 


56 


61 


59 


142 


210 


10 


22 


16 


14 


21 


I 


2 


2 


184 


306 


18 


28 


23 


223 


41S 


29 


34 


32 


228 


346 


18 


35 


26 


227 


297 


II 


35 


23 


370 


795 


64 


57 


61 


42 


94 


8 


6 


7 


398 


848 


68 


61 


65 


406 


762 


54 


62 


58 


39 


71 


5 


6 


5 


426 


906 


73 


65 


69 


62 


130 


ID 


9 


ID 


243 


469 


34 


37 


36 


161 


263 


IS 


25 


20 



46 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The objects it will be observed are here arranged in groups 
as follows: animals, 1-13 ; plants, 14-23; minerals, 24-26; 
events in nature, 27-35; time, 36-39; localities, 40-51; 
the home landscape, 52-78; mathematical, 79-84; religious, 
85-91; social, 92-94; miscellaneous, 95-100. Of the chil- 
dren tested the first year the individual records of a few were 
followed and given with detail. A boy who passed on 75 out 
of the 100 showed an excellent record each year. He had a 
large vocabulary, yet would repeat a story with a fidelity to the 
words it was told in that was almost servile. He was better 
in sharp thought than in phantasy. A girl was deficient in 
all groups and almost zero in some, having only 41 per cent, 
of the questions, and a boy had but 12 of the 100 usable 
concepts. The school marks and the carefully kept individu- 
ality books in these and other cases corresponded very nearly 
to the efficiency shown in the preliminary tests. Not only do 
the latter harmonize with following school years, but Hart- 
mann thinks that from a careful inspection of the results of 
each group into which the 100 questions fall the mental 
ability if not the future career of the child can be predicted. 
What shall be said, he adds, of the waste of the general public 
school in which all three of these children are taught side by 
side in the same class.? 

In this inventory great stress was laid upon the natural 
setting of each object. The questioners were told that it was 
not sufficient to have seen, but they must have ridden on 
the cars, the apple tree must have had apples on it, the 
butterfly must have been on the flower, the sheep grazing, 
the frog springing, etc. One of these concepts was known to 
but 5, and one to 1056 of the 13 12 children, and the others 
were between these extremes. In animals, minerals, and the 
social group only did boys excel. Girls excelled in 56 and 
boys in 38 objects. Girls excelled the boys in their marks 
also in the first, second, and third school year, but less and 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 47 

less, till in the sixth year the boys were distinctly ahead. 
Again, on entering the usual elementary school each boy had 
on the average 30.7 of the 100 concepts, and each girl 36.7. 
At the end of the first school year the boys had an average 
mark of progress of 3.03, and each girl 2.53. Thus we 
can form the proportion, 36.7 : 30. 7 = 3.03 :x, which gives, 
as the value of its fourth term, 2.535, which varies only 
0.005 from the actual mark of the girls. For each of 
the next three years the deviation is hardly greater. The 
product of the number of concepts multiplied by the chief 
school mark in Germany which designates progress comes 
out about the same in girls' as in boys' classes. Out 
of the 100 usable concepts the average girl had 32.9, the 
average boy 30.8. The average Annaberg number, 31.9, is 
thus small. So valuable were these tests for determining the 
individuality of the child, for arrangement of the program and 
for their aid to teachers, that at Easter either the entire hun- 
dred, or at least the best thirty, questions are tested each 
year. These are the following : hare, hen, frog, butterfly, 
pine tree, flower, tempest, rainbow, moon phases, days of the 
week, child's home, city hall, railway station, potato field, 
snow landscape, cube, numbers, work in the field, baptism, 
coins, sickness, God, Jesus, and localities. In the practice 
school of the Pedagogical Seminary at Jena each school year 
begins with this analysis of the children's sphere of thought. 

The complete course of study for the first and second school 
year, based upon his inquest, the author reserves for a later 
pamphlet, and gives here only an outline of his ideas. Noth- 
ing fulfills all the conditions of Herbartian interest at first 
better than Bible stories; but only 25 per cent, of the chil- 
dren have usable Bible concepts, and their apperceptive 
organs are hardly developed enough to make this fruitful. 
Genuine child stories, according to Willmann, must have five 
marks, viz. : they must be really childlike or simple and full 



48 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

of fancy, they must excite and educate the mental judgment, 
must be instructive and of permanent worth, they must make 
a deep unitary impression which shall be a center of future 
interest. It must thus be popular and classical. Hartmann 
thanks God that this demand can be met by the Grimm Mdr- 
chen. Since Ziller's first plea for Mdvchen in school nearly 
a quarter of a century ago the battle about them has raged. 
Hartmann disagrees with Ziller and Rein in thinking that four 
of these are enough for the first school year and feed all the 
Herbartian interests. The Star Dollars, which teaches that 
although all desert the child there is One that does not, comes 
last. Rein is charged with selecting his twelve tales arbi- 
trarily, without the justification which only such a preliminary 
inquest can give, or else for external reasons, as basis for 
instruction in natural history, etc. Hartmann's limited use of 
Mdrchen should not only educate religious and other senti- 
ments, but it should teach to apprehend and to tell again. 
After this practice for half a year Bible stories should come. 
The New Testament should precede the Old, and all should 
center about the Jesus child. To fail of insuring close inti- 
macy with Bible tales in early childhood is, we are told, one 
of the gravest of all pedagogical errors. The topics of this 
half year should be the nativity, the visit of the three wise 
men, Jesus in the temple, the wedding at Cana, the boy at 
Nain, the entrance to Jerusalem, the arrest of Jesus, his con- 
demnation, death, and burial. This plan has been followed 
in close connection with the church year in Annaberg, and 
with the best results. Even for narrative and educational 
values this has excelled all other material. This matter 
must be so treated as to evoke the greatest interest and par- 
ticipation, and never at the same part of the year as the Mdr- 
chen. Religious instruction should thus be chief and central. 
It should select the matter and all it requires without 
reference to other branches, and in this sense only they 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 49 

should all be subordinate to it. The last sixteen pages are 
given to an outline or program for each of the forty full school 
weeks of the German school year. This is divided as narra- 
tive matter and object-lesson matter. The first begins with a 
brief prayer and song, the first Mdrchen, in the third week, 
and new and longer songs, prayers, and tales, then proverbs 
and poems with Bible tales the last half year. The second 
begins with name, place in school, time, school days, move- 
ments, with use of slate, sponge, and pencil in the second 
week, each child's home, street, parents' name, home life, 
fence, hedge, flowers, animals and birds seen on the way, 
garden tools, planting and sowing, riddles, drawing, then 
writing and reckoning, etc. Every object in the table is 
gone over with detail, as are many more. They draw dog 
houses, bird cages, mouse traps, spider's web, hat, lamp, 
stove, moon, star, cat, dish, sled, church, altar, Christmas 
tree, knife and fork, wine bottle and glass, bed, teacup and 
pot, hat, cap, gravestone, street lamp, city hall, bookcase, 
slate, etc. 

Recentlyanother census of this kind has been taken. J.Olsen^ 
describes a systematic study of 5600 pupils at Varde by the 
tutorial staff, which began in the year 1 898, in order to deter- 
mine the content of their minds when entering school at the 
age of six or seven. A series of one hundred ideas, partly of 
a universal and partly of a local order, was made out and each 
child was examined singly as to each idea, and the teacher 
marked on his schedule how many clear concepts of each class 
the child possessed. The children were of middle and working 
classes, and the tests were an open-hearted conversation 
regarded rather as play than as work, at which the most 
clever ones endeavored to display all their knowledge. 

On the following page is the table of results. 

^ Children's Ideas (Denmark), Paidologist, Nov., 1900, Vol. II, pp. 128- 
131- 



50 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Boys Girls 

Hen with her chickens 8i 70 

Starling 64 62 

Beehive go 54 

Stork in his nest 87 85 

Leaping frog go 77 

Fish in the water 87 77 

Swimming swan 72 77 

Ant go 70 

Singing lark 36 8 

Creeping snail 54 70 

Butterfly in a flower 70 g3 

Hare in the field 63 30 

Blooming cherry 63 48 

Apple tree with apples go 54 

Beech in the wood 27 34 

Pine in the wood 63 78 

Birch in the wood g 8 

Hazel in the wood g 8 

Flower in the field go g3 

Moss in the wood 81 54 

Mushroom in the wood 54 61 

Gravel pit 9 8 

Turf pit 63 22 

Flint 54 22 

Thunder 72 85 

Hail shower 81 93 

Father's name 81 93 

Residence 100 100 

The king 18 o 

Coin 100 100 

Rope maker 63 45 

Joiner 95 52 

Church, interior and exterior 54 34 

Town hall 72 76 

Market place 96 88 

Frederick VII (a statue in the market place) ... 45 14 

Leddler Street 100 25 

Public school 100 100 



THE CONTENTS OF CHILDREN'S MINDS 51 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Boys Girls 

College 63 30 

Methodist church 54 39 

Hospital 81 95 

Old cemetery 81 86 

New cemetery 88 95 

Gas works 81 55 

Manege 81 55 

Railway station 100 86 

Hotel 54 39 

Fountain 63 46 

Arnebjerg (a grove) 81 100 

The grove (a plantation near town) 81 95 

Moving clouds 81 46 

Rainbow 90 78 

Dew 30 46 

Dawn 27 o 

Evening red 18 8 

Sunrise and sunset 36 8 

Starry heavens 90 85 

Change of the moon 54 23 

Quarters of the globe 9 o 

Watch 63 98 

Days of the week 63 54 

The seasons 27 54 

Birthday 72 54 

Triangle 45 46 

Square 72 93 

Birch 9 8 

Ball 100 100 

Cube 18 16 

Numbers from i to 10 90 85 

God 63 70 

Christ 27 45 

Biblical narratives 36 62 

Prayer and psalms 36 62 

Church service 27 30 

Baptism 9 IS 

Funeral 54 77 



52 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 
Boys Girls 

Eiffel Tower 54 23 

River 100 100 

Bridge 90 86 

Meadow go 62 

Valley 18 8 

Hill 45 15 

Sea 45 23 

Plantation 63 38 

Heath 90 38 

Lake 18 8 

Cornfield 72 31 

Potato field 90 71 

Snow-covered land 72 62 

Windmill 100 70 

Water mill 36 o 

Work in the field 100 47 

Work in the garden 100 86 

Riding in a carriage 100 86 

Riding in the train 100 78 

Correct repetition of sounds 90 72 

Recitation of verses 30 70 

Repetition of singing 36 54 

Singing 63 62 

Sickness 90 94 

From the above we see that girls have on an average fewer 
clear ideas than boys, save concerning religious matters, funerals, 
and things which concern the feelings and the seasons. Some 
of the misconceptions of children were remarkable. Some 
know moving, but not stationary clouds. Very much that 
passed under the children's eyes every day was not noticed. 
School work must be built upon a very poor foundation of clear 
ideas. The fact that children see objects a hundred times with- 
out acquiring consciousness of it suggests that we need to 
converse with children about the commonest things. 

G. Stanley Hall 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS i 

Perhaps not the least difficult question in connection with 
the present topic is what mental states shall be included under 
the term daydreaming. The usual definition — " an idle ex- 
ercise of the imagination during waking hours " — by no means 
covers the material of the returns, which include nearly every 
form of mental reproduction from the hypnagogic state, with 
complete absence of voluntary control, through varying phases 
in which the initial idea or general trend of the images is vol- 
untarily determined, up to a distinctly purposive picturing of 
the future with due attention to probable realization. There 
are, however, certain characteristics which are common to this 
entire series of phenomena, namely a withdrawal of the atten- 
tion, more or less complete, from the external senses, and a 
greater or less degree of mental automatism. Fechner^ con- 
siders that in so far as attention is withdrawn from the senses, 
their condition is precisely the same as in real sleep, and " vice 
versa the whole sphere of the activity of inner representations 
may fall asleep." According to this view, the mental life os- 
cillates between sleeping and waking, and there are regions of 
the brain asleep even in waking states and the distinction be- 
tween dreams and daydreams is merely one of degree. For 
convenience in classification, daydreaming may be tentatively 
defined as including all those reproductive and imaginative 
mental states in which there is a greater or less degree of autom- 
atism in the images which come before the mind. Its limits 

^ Reprinted in abridged form from the American Journal of Psychology ^o\. 
XV, pp. 465-488, October, 1904. 

2 G. T. Fechner, Elemente der Psychophysik, Vol. I, p. 440, 2te Aufl. 
Breitkopf, Leipzig, 1889. 

53 



54 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

would be, on the one hand, the hypnagogic states which im- 
mediately precede sleep, and on the other, states of purposive 
thinking in which the mind becomes so filled with the subject 
that its workings tend to become automatic. Some of those 
who answered the questions attempted definitions, a few speci- 
mens of which are here given. 

F., 14.^ Daydreams are the thoughts and wishes which we imagine. 

M., 15. Daydreams are dreams about things which are fancied and 
which have no real foundation. 

F,, 16. Daydreams are thoughts about what we want the most. 

F., i6|. Daydreaming is simply the soul longing for something great. 

F., 13. In daydreams, you first start out to think about one thing 
and then your mind wanders over many things which may or may not 
be connected with what you first start to think about. It is really going 
to sleep because you don't work with anything but your brain. You 
generally have daydreams when everything about you is quiet and you 
have nobody to talk to. You think, but you don't express your thoughts 
in words ; it 's your brain that is holding a conversation. 

The material for the present study was collected in response 
to a request contained in a syllabus on dreams. 

" Ask all who can to write about their daydreams, what they 
are most often about, where and when they lapse to reverie 
most often, and if they enjoy it or think it wrong, etc.; and 
describe one or more in detail." 

469 papers were received from normal-school pupils of ages 
averaging from seventeen to twenty-five, 980 from pupils in 
the graded schools of ages ranging from seven to sixteen years, 
23 from adults, and 3 contributions were received from those 
who had passed the age of ninety, making a total of 1475 
cases. Of these 535 were from girls and 445 from boys in the 
graded schools. The normal-school material was chiefly from 
girls, and of the adults slightly over one half were men. Among 
the entire 1475 cases there were five (3 males and 2 females) 
who stated positively that they never had daydreams; but of 

^ F. indicates female ; M., male ; numbers indicate age in years . 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 55 

these one, a man of twenty-five, described a mental state which 
would be included in the broader definition of daydreaming, and 
two others were children who were classed in grades with those 
several years younger. 

The physical characteristics of daydreaming most frequently 
mentioned were psychic deafness and blindness and muscular 
relaxation, including that of the eyes. Many children give 
descriptions of individual instances of this psychic deafness. 
They fail to hear bells or signals, say that their minds were 
far away, that the teacher had to speak several times to attract 
their attention, and one boy graphically describes an occasion 
on which his teacher threw a piece of chalk at him " to wake 
him up." A girl of twenty-one writes, " Sometimes I am so 
interested in my dreams that I do not see or hear anything 
that is going on around me." Another girl, of seventeen, says, 
" There are times when I am so far away that I am entirely 
unconscious of my surroundings until there is some loud noise 
or my name is called." The "far-away" look of the eyes is 
repeatedly mentioned and is an external sign of daydreaming 
which children readily recognize. A child of twelve gives her 
observations on the difference between hard thinking and day- 
dreaming in these words : " When you do your arithmetic you 
pucker up your forehead, but when you are daydreaming your 
eyes look way off." This relaxation of the eye muscles which 
allows the axes to become parallel, or, according to Bonders, 
actually divergent, is similar to that in actual sleep. Le Conte (9)^ 
proved experimentally that in drowsiness and drunkenness the 
double images are due to divergence of the optic axes, and 
recognizes this as the absolutely involuntary and passive state 
of the eye in distinction from the involuntary tonic contraction 
of the healthy waking state, which holds the lines of regard 
parallel, and the voluntary state of convergence. It seems 
probable that both of the involuntary states are represented in 

1 Numbers in the text refer to Bibliography at end of the article. 



56 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

daydreaming, actual divergence of the axes probably being 
confined to those mental states which most nearly approach 
the hypnagogic, while the "far-away " look so often mentioned 
is due to parallel axes. Besides these cases of more or less 
complete muscular relaxation there is another class in which 
daydreaming is an accompaniment of physical activity of a 
monotonous or automatic character, as walking, sewing, driv- 
ing, swinging in a hammock, rocking, practicing piano exercises, 
hoeing, washing dishes, etc. In a few cases bodily automa- 
tisms which took the form of an unconscious acting out of 
the dream were reported, while in others they were quite 
unconnected with the images of the dream. Mr. Lindley, in 
his study of the phenomena of mental effort, reached the ten- 
tative conclusion that " many automatisms represent processes 
for the production and maintenance of central nervous energy 
as well as for the production of the state of attention, and this 
seems to hold good for states of attention where the object is 
internal as well as for sensorial states (lo). 

The conditions mentioned as favoring daydreaming were 
twilight, moonlight, solitude, soft music, sound of the waves or 
falling water or any monotonous sound which tends to fatigue 
the attention, listening to an uninteresting lecture, sermon, or 
recitation, physical or mental fatigue, watching an open fire 
and looking at a distant landscape. It will be noted that sev- 
eral of these conditions are favorable for inducing hypnosis. 
In a large percentage of the cases daydreaming is either 
directly associated with bodily or mental fatigue, or fatigue is 
suggested by the conditions mentioned. Many children name 
the later hours of the school session as the time for daydream- 
ing, and -'bedtime, before going to sleep," is a favorite hour for 
both children and adolescents. There are many indications that 
daydreaming is often the normal rest of the mind which takes 
refuge from monotony or fatigue of the attention by this 
method of relaxation. Voluntary attention is fatiguing even to 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 57 

adults and much more so to children whose control over the 
finer muscles is but partially developed. Binet ( i) in his experi- 
ments on the effects of intellectual fatigue found that even for 
periods of work occupying less than fifteen minutes there was 
relaxation of the eye muscles, and that for periods exceeding 
thirty minutes muscular effort, as tested by the ergograph, was 
diminished. Mosso (12) found that while in some instances the 
first effect of intellectual fatigue was to increase the energy of 
the muscles, it was followed by progressive enfeeblement. 

Bound up with this question of fatigue is the relation of 
attention to daydreaming. Mosso considered in his experi- 
ments that attention was completely dispersed when, after an 
effort to make his mind a complete blank, images entirely 
uncontrolled by will trooped unbidden into his mind. But 
while this absolutely passive play of association is reported in 
a few cases, it is by no means the most typical form of day- 
dreaming. From the teacher's point of view, the daydream- 
ing pupil is certainly in a state of inattention, but in far the 
greater number of cases even voluntary attention is not wholly 
suspended, for the choice of subject is initially determined, and 
if the subject of the dream becomes unpleasant it is usually 
changed or the dream is banished. Instead of complete dis- 
persion of the attention, there is a withdrawal of it from the 
perception of outward things and a greater or less degree of 
concentration on the mental content. Usually this attention 
is of the passive sort, but even this is not always true, if in 
daydreaming are included those forms of story building which 
are worked out in logical sequence though possibly quite irre- 
spective of their connection with facts. The tendency of day- 
dreams to become more of the passive type is distinctly 
increased toward adolescence, and danger of impairment of 
attention from overindulgence is clearly recognized. This is 
brought out in the opinions as to the rightness or wrongness 
of daydreaming, which will be discussed later. 



58 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The Content of Daydreams at Different Ages 

In reading successively the papers furnished by the differ- 
ent school grades the change and increase in variety of content 
was very noticeable and there were a sufficient number of 
papers from the same grade in different localities to bring out 
differences fairly well. The dreams of the youngest children 
who could write (7 to 8 years) were almost entirely of play and 
good times with a sprinkling of the fairy-story type of dream. 
Memory images are very prominent, and the chief imaginative 
alteration consists in making the dreamer's self the chief per- 
sonage of the dream. The particular plays and ideas of a good 
time vary with the environment, as all classes of children from 
the rich to the extremely poor are included, but are reducible 
to a few fundamental interests, namely, plays which involve 
motor activities and out-of-door life, nature interests, especially 
in connection with animals, and eating. The plays and games 
of boys and girls show some divergence, but out-of-door life and 
activity figure largely in both. Nature interests were espe- 
cially noticeable in the returns from the Worcester schools and 
showed a greater variety than in returns from other localities. 
Images of good things to eat play quite a large part in the 
consciousness of both boys and girls, figuring in the fairy 
stories, picnics, excursions, birthday parties and Thanksgiving 
celebrations, as well as by themselves. The eatables oftenest 
mentioned were candy, ice cream, cake, and fruit of various 
kinds. In the returns from very poor children these dreams 
of eating were pitifully prominent and evidently affected by 
the physical conditions of ill-nourished bodies, though the 
interest seems to be a perfectly normal one for children of all 
classes. The effect of insufficient nutrition on mental states 
is further brought out in some material^ from Polish peasant 
children in which the questions, What is happiness } and 

1 Collected for the University by Madame Anna Grudzinska of Kiev. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 59 

What is your greatest wish? were asked. "To have enough 
to eat," "Never to be hungry," "To have enough bread," were 
the typical answers. For girls from eight to ten, the fairy-tale 
form of daydream predominates over all others. It appears 
to be a mental device for compassing all desires, and actual 
experiences and possibilities are often mingled indiscriminately 
with the wildest impossibilities. Nearly all dreams of being 
rich and having every desire gratified and the dream of being 
a princess and living in a palace "with a piano in every 
room " and having unlimited silk dresses and jewels may be 
mixed with the wish "to have enough good food every day." 
The deus ex machina in these dreams is most frequently a fairy 
godmother, though wishing caps or a magic lamp or ring also 
figure. With boys of this age the fairy-story dream is less com- 
mon and the form differs from that among girls. An interest- 
ing example of this occurred in a grade where the children were 
evidently all familiar with the story of Aladdin's lamp and the 
magic carpet. Nearly all of these had daydreams of flying or 
being transported through the air. Nearly all the girls had 
preserved the original forms of the stories with slight altera- 
tions, but the boys dreamed of all sorts of wonderful flying 
machines, sometimes mentioning the rate per hour, of trips in 
a balloon or by means of mechanical wings, of which they 
were in some cases the inventors. The desire for riches, while 
quite as widespread among boys as among girls, seems to de- 
mand a more logical explanation of its origin than that fur- 
nished by a fairy godmother or the turning of a magic ring 
on the finger. Dreams of finding money in amounts varying 
from fifty cents to five million dollars occur, or the dream 
may be projected into the future and acquiring a fortune by 
possible or impossible means may be imagined, but however 
improbable the dream there is usually an attempt at logical 
consistency in it. Typical examples of these dreams are the 
following : 



6o CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

M., 9. Once I dreamed of finding a fifty-dollar gold piece. The first 
thing I bought was a bicycle and a riding suit for thirty dollars. And 
the other twenty dollars I gave to my mother. 

F., 10. One of my daydreams was that I could live in a lovely 
castle. Eat good food, fruit, and vegetables. And be a fairy and have 
a wand. I could have a hundred houses full of twenty-dollar bills. And 
ride in a lovely diamond flower team. Have as many dolls as I would 
wish. And have doll carriages dressed in silk. It would be summer 
all the time. I could have white silk dresses, pink, blue, and bright gay 
colors. I could have as many boys and girls to play with me. And I 
could have storybooks. 

M., 9. Once I have thought that when I am a man I should like to 
be a millionaire and have a house with green grass as far as I could 
see. And a hundred horses, fine runners. And every day go out on 
some lake in a canoe and have a man to take care of a canoe better 
than anybody else. And the best horses in the world and all the things 
I could think of, I could have. 

F., ID. I want to be a king's wife and live in a large castle. And 
have a great many rooms and in each a nice piano. And have a long 
silk robe of red, pink, and many other colors. And have a Morris rocking- 
chair with diamonds and rubies. 



These childish dreams of wealth rarely show traces of the 
commercial instinct. It is always a means rather than an end, 
and children in whom the commercial instinct is strong are 
apt to have a much less imaginative type of daydream. They 
dream, but their mental images are much more closely related 
to facts. One boy of ten dreamed of playing marbles with 
another boy and that " he skun all his marbles." Good trades 
and means of actually earning money also figure in this type 
of daydreaming where images are usually furnished by the 
immediate environment and undergo little change. Dreams of 
wealth characterize the reveries of children of all ages and 
adolescents, but the vision of wealth ceases to be of the fairy- 
story type, and the golden palaces, gorgeous jewels and dresses 
of the childish dreams fade and are replaced by those of a 
more materialistic character. Wealth is no longer imagined as 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 6 1 

the gift of a fairy godmother, but as acquired through material 
agencies. Boys dream of acquiring a fortune by means of 
some wonderful invention, by going West and discovering a 
gold mine, or by phenomenal success in business or speculation, 
but whatever the method, it is always a short and easy process. 
Girls dream of marrying millionaires, inheriting large fortunes 
from newly discovered relatives, or of becoming famous act- 
resses, musicians, or authoresses and acquiring wealth along 
with fame. Frequently there is a strongly altruistic element in 
these dreams, especially during the early adolescent years. 
Hospitals are endowed, animal refuges established, public play- 
grounds fitted up, fresh-air work carried to an extent which 
quite dwarfs its present proportions, the poor are clothed and 
fed, and one young philanthropist would "give every boy a 
bicycle." The part which bicycles play in the consciousness 
of the American boy, and sometimes of girls also, is astonish- 
ingly large. Those who do not possess them dream of having 
them, and those who have them dream of the good times they 
have had or expect to have. A boy of eleven writes: " I dream 
most often of having hundreds of dollars and I go down and 
order two bicycles and have coaster brakes put on them. Then 
I bring down my brother and get the bicycles and order bicy- 
cle shoes and suits." 

Another, of fourteen, writes : " I dream most of riding a 
bicycle. Once I dreamed that I and some other boys were 
racing. We had to go around the track three times and I 
won the race, the other boys coming in a few yards behind, 
and there were thousands of people looking on." 

A few years later automobiles take the place of bicycles, and 
the desire to own one is widespread though not as universal 
as in the case of the bicycle. 

The following dream so completely sums up the various 
sports indicated in the "good times" of daydreams that it is 
given entire. 



62 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

M., 141. My daydream is if I had $16,000,000 I would have a couple 
of red-devil automobiles, a couple of air ships, and a fine big mansion. 
I would have a couple of hundred nice carriage horses. I would hire 
a couple of hundred of men to take care of things and keep everything 
looking swell, and a swell big building for playing indoor-baseball in 
winter, basket ball, ping pong, Rugby, and all kinds of sports and games. 
The first thing I would do before I ate my breakfast would be to go 
out and have a nice swim, and then take a good pair of Arabian horses 
and take myself out for a ride, and then come back and eat a good break- 
fast and take one of my red-devil automobiles out for a good ride. 

A more modest dream by a boy of the same age is, " I would 
like to have a snug little cottage by the sea, and have a small 
yacht and a few rowboats and be able to go out in them when- 
ever I please." 

A large part of the daydreaming of the average healthy boy 
from ten to fifteen appears to be connected with sports and 
athletics. When tired or not interested in his school work 
he is apt to take refuge from ennui in visions of fishing, gun- 
ning, marbles, baseball, swimming, camping, boating. Even 
when these amusements have little likelihood of becoming 
realities, he still conjures up visions of what fun it would be if 
he could have them. 

Baseball furnishes the content of many daydreams for 
boys from twelve to sixteen. The character of the dream 
varies from reviewing a recent game in all its details or antici- 
pation of games in the near future to dreams of greatness as a 
famous pitcher in which the applause of admiring multitudes 
is vividly pictured. In some cases the dream is so vivid that 
incipient movements connected with the game are made. 

M., 13. One day in school I got to thinking what a fine time I 
would have playing ball after school. I dreamed that I was a fine 
pitcher in a team and the other boys were glad to let me pitch. 

M., I3|. My dreams are mostly about ball games, and I don't enjoy 
them very much because they make me think I am a whole lot and then 
when I wake up I 'm nothing but a boy that can't play very well at all. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 63 

Dreams of hunting, fishing, swimming, being a cowboy and 
living on horseback and travehng in unexplored countries are 
characteristic throughout the teens. Some of these dreams 
are entirely unconnected with experience, while in others the 
mental imagery is largely furnished by memories of vacation 
pleasures. The instinct itself appears to be widely spread and 
independent of environment, since it is apparently as strong 
in those who have never been outside a city as in those who 
have had opportunities for gratifying it. Very few girls have 
these dreams and they usually take the form of wishing to 
be a boy so that such things were possible. Girls dream of 
travel as much as boys, but when details are given they are 
of comfortable, civilized travel and rarely include elements of 
adventure. Country life and animals also figure largely, but 
very few drift beyond the bounds of convention in their imagi- 
nings. The chief form in which any inclination toward adven- 
ture appeared was in the dream of being a red-cross nurse and 
going to China or the Philippines. 

Dreams of fame and future greatness rarely occur before 
adolescence. They vary from vague dreams of achieving 
honors in military or naval service, law, medicine, politics, 
music, acting, winning social or business success, to the attain- 
ment of some coveted school honor, having the highest works, 
gaining honors at graduation, or being a leader in athletics. To 
the boy looking forward to college the highest pinnacle of 
fame seems often to be the attainment of captaincy of a foot- 
ball team. In children the desire for self -recognition and 
aggrandizement demands immediate fulfillment and is rarely 
projected beyond the immediate future, while to the adolescent 
the vague future seems to possess special attraction, and this 
distinction seems to hold throughout all dreams of the future. 
A child's vision of future pleasure is usually bounded by " next 
Saturday " or the nearest vacation, while the adolescent range 
seems to include past, present, and a boundless future. An 



64 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

apparent exception to this occurs in children's dreams of being 
grown up, which are very common, but when these are de- 
scribed in detail they almost all prove to be of the fairy-story 
order and not a real looking forward into the future. The con- 
tent of these adolescent dreams of future greatness is chiefly 
dependent upon environment and personal ambitions. Some 
are a mere expression of desires without expectation of fulfill- 
ment, while others show evidence of being a distinct source of 
inspiration for purposive effort. Several writers state that 
when tired or discouraged they found in these dreams of future 
success encouragement and inspiration for further effort. 

F., 13. My daydream is mostly about being an actor in an opera 
company. I dream of being a beautiful singer. 

F., 13. Sometimes I dream of being an authoress and travel all 
over Europe and Asia, wrUing about the different peoples. 

M., 15. Dreams of becoming the champion ball player of the world. 

M., 16. Dreams of military greatness and becoming a great general. 

M., 19. As I have always wanted to be a lawyer, my air castles 
have always been of palatial law offices, stump speeches. Congress and 
the inevitable White House vision looms in the background. Every boy 
dreams of the presidency. I see myself delivering a powerful speech 
before some large audience, with roars of applause interrupting. I think 
it a bad habit and wish I could stop it. It interferes with study and 
makes me dissatisfied with reality. 

M., 18. Dreams of becoming a famous engineer and overcoming 
great difficulties in problems of construction of bridges and railroads. 
Never dreams except in leisure time and thinks that he works the harder 
because of these dreams. 

From the age of twelve, the influence of books upon the con- 
tent of the daydream becomes increasingly important. With 
the less imaginative, the dream may be merely a reproduction, 
with shght alterations, of some book recently read, but in other 
cases the book simply furnishes the raw material out of which 
the fabric of the dream is woven. Girls put themselves in the 
place of their favorite heroines and adapt the material of 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 65 

romance, poetry, or travels to their own uses. Their ideals of 
life are affected by what they read. Some of these dreams 
of the future are visions of beautiful and useful womanhood, 
but the trail of the Elsie books, with their morbid religiosity, 
and the influence of the Duchess and Rhoda Broughton is evi- 
dent with unfortunate frequency. Boys dream of fighting 
Indians, having hairbreadth adventures on land and sea, being 
cowboys, pirates, brigands, or national heroes as the case may 
be. Detective stories seem to acquire a peculiar charm at 
about the age of fourteen. The best of these do not appar- 
ently exercise any particularly harmful influence and they appeal 
strongly to the logical instinct which seems to acquire promi- 
nence at about this age. But of the baneful effects of the worse 
class of this literature there is no doubt. Boys become familiar 
with the details of sin and crime before their moral ideas are 
fixed. The qualities of courage and hardihood involved in cer- 
tain forms of crime appeal strongly to their imagination, and 
many cases of juvenile crimes are directly traceable to litera- 
ture of this sort. A more common effect is the lowering of 
ideals and manly honor and pure-mindedness and the taste for 
emotional excitement which renders other literature tame and 
uninteresting and destroys interest in school work. 

Another type of daydream common in both children and 
adolescents is the story-making impulse, which in some cases 
reveals a high type of creative imagination (8). Some children 
regularly get themselves to sleep by making up stories, the 
same one sometimes being continued for several nights. The 
frequency of the continued story was, however, very small, 
forming in the present collection of data less than one per cent, 
of those mentioning the story form of dream. 

F., 18. My daydreams are in the forms of imaginations in every 
way remote from my surroundings. They are somewhat in the form of 
a story whose incidents and scenes are continued from time to time. I 
have recorded some of my daydreams in the form of stories. 



66 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

F., 1 8. My daydreams frequently deal with some adventure in 
which I am taking an active part. They are like stories and unfold 
themselves gradually. Since childhood I have been in the habit of put- 
ting myself to sleep with these dreams. 

Closely akin to the story form of daydream is the imaginary 
conversation which is sometimes carried on with actual friends 
and acquaintances, sometimes with strangers casually seen, or 
with characters in books or history, or in some cases with 
purely imaginary characters. Some novelists and dramatists 
have done much of their composing in this form, and these 
imaginary characters acquire a vivid personality. Lonely chil- 
dren sometimes develop this form of imaginary companionship. 
Some years ago Dr. G. Stanley Hall collected a number of 
cases of these imaginary companions, and the records are given 
with considerable detail. All began at an early age, usually 
as soon as the child began to talk, and continued for several 
years, usually until the child began to go to school, or was 
otherwise brought into contact with children of the same age. 
One child, a boy, began to play with an imaginary " Gobby " 
as soon as he could talk, and when nearly five "Gobby " was still 
his constant companion, but had grown up and had a wife and 
daughter, who were also playmates. Another child of about 
the same age had two imaginary playmates, one of whom was 
responsible for all his bad behavior, and the other played the 
part of his good genius. His probable behavior could often be 
inferred by noticing which of his imaginary companions was 
in evidence at the time. A few years ago, in one of our popular 
magazines (ii), there appeared some letters purporting to be 
written by a child of eleven to her husband whom she assumed 
to be somewhere in the world, though she did not know him. 
Whether these letters are, as they purport to be, the genuine 
productions of a child, or later reminiscences put into this form 
for literary effect, they picture with psychological truth the 
impulse of a lonely and imaginative child to find in an ideal 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 67 

world the sympathy and companionship which was lacking in 
the outward life. 

Daydreams of love and marriage are frequent after the age 
of seventeen and occasionally earlier than this for girls. Some- 
times these are vague dreams of a happy future with a shadowy 
partner who is to possess all virtues ; sometimes there is a defi- 
nite picture of a future home and a house is planned and fur- 
nished in all details. With girls, unless they are definitely 
looking forward to marriage, the house planning and furnish- 
ing is usually of a luxurious character and without reference to 
probability. With boys this vision of a home is more apt to 
be controlled by the possibilities of achievement. Both boys 
and girls frankly acknowledge dreaming over their friends of 
the opposite sex, though the more elaborated romances are 
nearly always woven about comparative strangers or wholly 
from the stuff of which dreams are made. Many girls imagine 
themselves in a home with children to whom they give names 
and even picture the color of their eyes and hair, how they 
shall be dressed and educated, and the good times they shall 
have, while the shadowy partner of these joys is rarely visual- 
ized or very definitely characterized. A few samples of this 
type of daydream are given. 

F., 18. I dream of being married and having a beautiful home of 
my own. I picture to myself the arrangement of the rooms. And the 
prettiest room in it will be a nursery furnished in pink and white and 
occupied by a curly-headed little boy and girl who will be the dearest 
children in the world. 

F., 1 7. My daydreams are usually about my future life : if I were 
married, and had a home of my own, and how cosy I would keep it. 

F., 17. Sometimes I dream of meeting my future husband, falling 
in love with him, etc., and how I would love and care for my children. 

F., 20. I do not have much time for dreaming now. I used to im- 
agine the pleasure of having a little home in the country with mother. 
I know that I ought not to worry, so try to keep those thoughts out of 
my mind. 



68 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

F., 20. I nearly always dream of myself as being very famous or at 
least holding an honored position. I have dreamed of being a teacher, 
a trained nurse, the head of some great medical institution, or a great 
speaker. I never dream of being a wife and mother. I cannot say 
why, but perhaps because I am not a pretty girl, but decidedly homely. 

F., 1 8. There are times occasionally when I think how nice it 
would be to be married and have a home of my own, and I think of 
the joy it would be to train up a little child and know that he was 
your own. 

M., 17. My daydreams are sometimes of having a home, a loving 
wife and children, and the means to keep them in comfort. 

M., 21. My daydreams are generally of what I am going to do in 
the future (of course a certain pretty girl plays an important part). 

M., 25. My daydreams are generally made up of plans by means of 
which I hope to make my sweetheart my happy wife. They are not 
mere love dreams, but contain all the essential elements that go to make 
professional life a success. My dreams are of reaching the highest 
point in my profession and making my wife happy. 

The house-planning form of daydream is of frequent occur- 
rence even when not connected with dreams of love or marriage. 
There are many of both sexes who seem to have a sort of archi- 
tectural instinct and find recreation in planning not only 
houses but grounds, and even extend their fancies to landscape 
gardening and poultry raising. 

A more prosaic form of dreaming is that in which the future 
occupation as a means of livelihood is the content of the dream. 
With the children of the poor this is influenced by probability 
at an early age, and the natural instincts for activity and out-of- 
door life find little play. Both boys and girls of eight or nine 
look forward to earning money as soon as the legal school 
years are completed. Those who are able to remain longer in 
school look forward to nearly every possible range of occupa- 
tion. The number of occupations mentioned by boys is nat- 
urally greater than by girls, but the latter mention nearly every 
occupation open to women, including teaching, nursing, stenog- 
raphy, bookkeeping, dressmaking, millinery, work in a store, 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 69 

etc. In most cases there were pleasurable anticipations con- 
nected with these images of the future, either because of ex- 
pected enjoyment in the work itself or because of the prospect 
of earning money, often with desire to benefit others. 



Opinions as to the Rightness or Wrongness of 
Daydreaming 

The youngest children who wrote their daydreams (those of 
the third grade ranging in age from seven to nine) had evi- 
dently not thought of a moral aspect of daydreaming and either 
gave no answer to the question or expressed surprise at its 
being asked. One child answered, " No one ever told me it 
was wrong "; and two or three others thought that it was right 
if the things dreamed about were true, but wrong if they were 
not. The papers of the children giving this answer showed 
rather a high degree of imaginative power, and it would be in- 
teresting to know whether they ever told their dreams as facts. 
Several reminiscent papers mention the confusion of fact and 
fancy in childhood, and one girl of eighteen states that at the 
age of fourteen her daydreams were so vivid that she some- 
times told them as facts. In all grades higher than the third, 
daydreaming and inattention to lessons seem to have become 
inseparably associated, and the answer is apt to be of the stereo- 
typed form that daydreaming is wrong in school "because 
you ought to be attending to your lessons." But in addition 
to this reply, many children appear to have done some independ- 
ent thinking and give individual reasons for thinking the in- 
dulgence right or wrong. Daydreams are wrong if they are 
about bad or mean things, wrong " because they make you feel 
cross when you are interrupted," " because they make you dis- 
satisfied with what you really have," "because it is wrong to 
wish for what you can't have," " because they waste time." 
They are not wrong " because they are natural," " because they 



70 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

can't be helped," " because they are about pleasant things." 
They are right because they make you happy, make you for- 
get your troubles and worries, and because " they rest the 
mind." Typical specimens of the answers given at different 
ages are quoted. 

M., II. I do not think it is right to let your mind wander off. 
Sometimes my mind will wander off. I will not know what I am doing. 
When I try to think, it is very hard to think. Sometimes it will be a 
long time before I can think what I am doing. 

F., 13. Daydreams are wrong because they make you feel cross when 
you are aroused. 

M., II. I think children should try to stop themselves from hav- 
ing daydreams because when you are dreaming like that in school you 
might miss a whole lot of lessons. 

M., 12. I think it is one wrong thing nature lets us do, because you 
might want to do something very bad and sit down and dream away 
your time. 

F., 15. I think daydreaming is wrong because I have not very much 
thinking power and I think they use up a good deal of it. 

M., 15. Last year I would sit in school and think of everything but 
my lessons. I failed on the final examination. 

F., I2|. I think too much daydreaming is not good for anybody, but 
when there is nothing else to think about they are very good things to 
have, for they keep the mind off dwelling on troubles. 

F., 13. I do not think my dreams are wrong, for I hardly ever think 
of anything wrong. 

M., 13. I think them right because it don't hurt you any to think, 
but I think it does in another way : this is in letting your mind go where 
it wants to, not taking care of its own business. 

M., 14I. I think they are right unless you ought to be doing some- 
thing else, because then you are not thinking of tricks to do and they 
keep you out of mischief. 

F., I2|. They always seem right to me because nothing happens like 
the things I dream. 

F., 15I. I think these dreams are all right because they do not hurt 
any one. They are just childish thoughts. 

M., 18. I do not think them wrong when I have leisure for them. 
When tired I like to let my mind drift away because I think it refreshes 
me and stops all the worries I may have. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 71 

F., 18. I enjoy daydreaming very much, but I sometimes think it is 
wrong, for it is apt to make you dissatisfied with your present life. 

F., ig. Daydreams are often an inspiration to higher things. They 
sometimes lead us on to try to reach our ideals. 

M., 19. This daydreaming seemed to force itself upon me. I tried 
hard to resist it because I thought it injurious to my mind. The more 
I daydream, the harder it is to come back to reality. 

Only a small per cent, of children above the fifth grade (10 
to 12 years) and adolescents say that daydreaming is right 
without qualifying the answer in some way. "It is not wrong 
unless," or " right when it does not interfere," etc. Many ado- 
lescents give an unqualified "wrong" in answer to the ques- 
tion, basing their answer upon personal experience. Some 
state definitely that their power of attention has become so 
impaired that any work requiring effort or continuity of atten- 
tion is difficult and irksome. Others, taking a broader view of 
the subject, consider that while excess is harmful, a moderate 
indulgence under proper conditions of time and place is restful 
to the mind and, in some cases, is an inspiration which tends 
to widen the mental horizon. The insidious tendency of day- 
dreaming to usurp the place of other mental activities is, how- 
ever, very generally recognized by adolescents and adults, and 
those who most fully recognize its value as a normal rest and 
relaxation of the mind, or the soil from which real creative 
work may spring, appreciate as well the danger that the serv- 
ant may become the master and mental imagery control the 
mind even in opposition to an effort of will. 

Relation of Mental Images to Daydreaming 

Galton (5) was the first to call attention to the great difference 
in character of the mental images in different individuals, his 
investigations showing that while some persons can call up 
mental pictures which are distinct and vivid in color and out- 
line, others are so deficient in this power that the term mental 



72 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

image appears to them a mere figure of speech. Galton found 
that philosophers and those accustomed to abstract thinking 
were apt to be deficient in this power, while children were 
likely to possess it in a high degree. He also found the vis- 
ualizing power to be somewhat higher in the female sex. 
Binet (i), following to some extent Galton's method, has gone 
somewhat farther and made a study of the degree to which 
mental images are under the control of the will. In addition 
to his more general investigations, Binet had two subjects (sis- 
ters) whom he studied with great care through a series of 
years and in whom there was a marked difference of type. 
Both were able to call up visual images, though one did so 
with greater effort, her images being less complete than those 
of the other and she had little power to alter or transform 
them. When, however, the images were allowed to arise spon- 
taneously, as in the more passive forms of daydreaming, there 
was great variety and richness of imagery. The younger had 
exceedingly distinct memory images and possessed the power 
of voluntary control over them in a high degree, altering them 
quickly and easily in accordance with suggestions made by the 
experimenter. Her mental imagery was, however, almost en- 
tirely lacking in spontaneity, and she seemed unable to com- 
prehend that these images could arise apart from an act of 
will. Both of these types were abundantly illustrated in the 
present material. Many children described the succession of 
mental images which passed through their minds, and said that 
they came of themselves and could n't be helped. Some de- 
scribed daydreaming as "queer "or "funny" because "you 
never could tell what was coming next." Others described their 
daydreams as a definite reproduction of scenes which they 
had especially enjoyed, or said that they had some favorite day- 
dream which was voluntarily initiated. Still a third form of 
daydreaming in the broader sense is illustrated by the insist- 
ent imagery which appears even in opposition to the will, as 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 73 

in the case of a boy who said that he did n't enjoy daydream- 
ing because the dream which came oftenest was the repetition, 
with all its details, of an accident in which he had seen his 
uncle injured. Dramatic authors sometimes have trouble with 
their characters, who persist in behaving in a way quite in op- 
position to the ideas of their creator. It is probable that these 
insistent ideas, which are usually connected either with some 
emotional shock or strain or are an accompaniment of over- 
fatigued states, approach very near to the line of morbidity. 
The relation of the will to daydreaming, as seen from the chil- 
dren's point of view, is of interest in this connection. Some say 
that daydreaming is not wrong because " you can't help it, and 
what you can't help can't be wrong." Others say that they 
"can't help it sometimes," especially if tired or not interested. 
One boy says that he can't help it in school, but is never 
troubled that way when the subject is baseball. Many state 
that they voluntarily initiate daydreams as a means of passing 
the time when lonely or uninterested, or as a refuge from un- 
pleasant actualities. 

Relation of Daydreaming to the Creative Imagination 

There are a few adults who say that they never daydream, 
but their papers show that they have restricted the meaning of 
the word to an exercise of the imagination which has no foun- 
dation in fact and which has been set aside as a childish mode 
of mental action. In the broader sense of the term it is proba- 
ble that every normal mind exhibits certain automatisms in its 
reproductive activities, whether these be unaltered memory 
images or imaginative transformations and combinations which 
are a true creative activity. The richer the content of the 
mind, the greater the variety and spontaneity of the daydream 
and the greater the possibility that from its automatic working 
new and original combinations may arise. A psychological 



74 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

study of inventors would probably reveal the fact that many 
of the great inventions, though sought and worked over for 
years, have come at last in a flash of insight through the 
automatic workings of a mind filled with all the possibilities 
of the subject. Indeed we know this to have been the case with 
many scientific discoveries ; and the biographies of artists, au- 
thors, and scientists emphasize the fact that many of them have 
been daydreamers in boyhood, but always along with this has 
coexisted the fact of special interest and activity along some 
particular line, even though there were deficiencies in other 
directions. Herbert Spencer (13) has recorded in his autobiog- 
raphy the fact that he was, during his boyhood, "extremely prone 
to castle building," and that the habit continued even into mature 
life. This habit, while usually indulged in at bedtime, was fre- 
quently a cause of annoying absent-mindedness. In later years 
he wrote : " I believe that it is a general belief that castle build- 
ing is detrimental ; but I am by no means sure that this is so. 
In moderation I regard it as beneficial. It is a play of the 
constructive imagination, and without constructive imagination 
there can be] no high achievement. I believe that the love I 
then had for it arose from the spontaneous activity of powers 
which in future life became instrumental to higher things." 
Many facts from the biographies of the world's leaders can be 
adduced in]support of this opinion of Spencer's, and it may well 
be questioned whether too vigorous a pruning and repression 
of this play of the imagination is good pedagogy and whether 
a certain amount of this mental recreation is not necessary for 
mental growth. We know that music, art, and literature are 
much indebted to the great dreamers. But the mind must first 
be well stored, and there must be energy for the realization of 
the dreams. It is never to the idle dreamer that the creative 
impulse comes. Mozart and Raphael were dreamers, but the 
harmonies of the one and the visions of the other belong to the 
world only because their dreams received embodiment by 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 75 

alliance with the drudgery of practical work. Napoleon and 
Mohammed were, each in his own way, dreamers, but they 
were also men of action. To Gautama, only after years of 
mental striving, came the perfect rest and the vision of Nirvana. 
It is probable that to most artists the vision beautiful comes 
when the mind is passive and visual images rise unbidden, and 
literature owes much to that spontaneous play of imagery which 
is one of the characteristic forms of daydreaming. We do not 
need to recall that strange fragment of Coleridge's dream, 
Kubla Khan, to realize that the brains of poets have sometimes 
worked in an automatic way. The daydream shades by almost 
imperceptible gradations through hypnagogic states to the 
dream of sleep, and as those whose mental content is fullest 
are those who are apt to dream most, so with the daydream. 
Babies and idiots probably do not daydream, as they have not 
a sufficient store of mental impressions for reproductive com- 
binations. And among those whose lives are a monotonous 
round of toil in the bare struggle for existence there are prob- 
ably few dreams either of the day or night, because little material 
is furnished by the environment. Experience having bred few 
images for the fancy to work upon, release from bodily exer- 
tion is followed almost immediately by sleep. The effect of 
monotonous labor in dulling mental images, even in well-stored 
minds, is noted by those who have spent years in Siberian 
prisons, even the images of home and friends being no longer 
recalled with clearness (3). 

Enjoyment of daydreaming in itself considered, except in 
those cases which are either morbid or tend to become so, is 
universal. The few who say that they do not enjoy it invari- 
ably give conscientious scruples in regard to it as the factor 
which disturbs enjoyment. Children occasionally give some 
unpleasant consequence resulting from indulgence in daydream- 
ing as a reason for nonenjoyment, but nevertheless do not dis- 
continue the habit. Some say that daydreaming is their greatest 



76 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

pleasure and that they "could not live without it." Even sad 
dreams are enjoyed, the sadness being of the same nature as 
that evoked by seeing a tragedy on the stage or reading a book 
which may be thoroughly pleasurable even though the reader 
is reduced to tears. Emotions in daydreams of a normal type 
are all attuned to a low key, due, perhaps, to the relaxation of 
the muscular and vascular systems. Mosso (lo) found experi- 
mentally that respiration tends to become periodic, and the 
pulse is lowered when attention begins to wander in states of 
drowsiness and in the dreamy states when attention is most 
completely dispersed. Twilight moods of reverie are typically 
characterized by the more subdued emotions and by moral and 
religious aspirations (6). The mood is generally enjoyed, and 
many say that it rests and helps them. 

Morbid Daydreaming 

In cases of morbid grief and painful reverie instead of mus- 
cular relaxation there is sometimes a partial paralysis and 
rigidity of the muscles which is apparent in the face and hands, 
and in the character of the movements when the subject is 
aroused. These cases of painful reverie are reported chiefly by 
adults and are sharply distinguished from the enjoyable melan- 
choly and "sweet sadness" of normal reveries. The content 
is not an imaginary situation, but some actual sorrow or trouble, 
and the tendency to morbidity is frequently recognized by the 
subject, and is shunned by an effort to keep the mind occu- 
pied with other things. In cases of physical weakness and ill 
health these reveries tend toward, and in some cases become, 
obsessive ideas against which the patient struggles in vain, 
whenever physical weakness prevents constant occupation. 
Scenes which crush the heart and paralyze effort are re-lived 
again and again, and the will is powerless to banish these 
images which the patient may fully realize are leading to mental 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 77 

degeneration. In the entire number of daydreams collected 
from children only thirteen morbid cases occurred as regards 
content, though there were a number of cases in which, though 
there was no morbidity of content, daydreaming had become 
so excessive and so imperative a habit as to be regarded as a 
morbid development, very closely approaching the effects upon 
some hypnotic subjects in the loss of will power. Among the 
cases of morbid content, two were of snakes. Both subjects 
were boys, and in one case the cause was stated as due to a 
fright, which had generated a morbid fear which resulted in 
images of the object dreaded whenever the mind was allowed 
to wander uncontrolled. In the other case, no information was 
given beyond the fact that daydreams were always of snakes 
and not enjoyed. Two children of thirteen and fourteen dreamed 
of dying and of the end of the world, and in one of these cases 
the tendency of the dream to become an imperative idea was 
marked. Two others habitually have sad daydreams, and in 
both of these cases the health was reported below normal. 

F., I2|. When they are nice and not frighting I enjoy them, but 
when they are horrible and frighting I do not like them. 

F., 13. My dreams are most often different, but about something 
sad. 

M., 14. Daydreams chiefly of snakes, of which he is afraid. 

F., 13. When I am sewing or reading I begin to think. I think 
and think about everything until I think about something I cannot 
get off my mind. One thing I dream about most is the end of the 
world. I wonder what will become of the people and how the earth 
will look and how dreadful it will be. 

F., 14. I always think about the past and what if I should die. 

F., 19. I am a victim of daydreams to a most annoying degree, inso- 
much that all efforts at resistance seem futile. 

A woman of 39 has met with great loss and sorrow ; sits for hours in 
the same rigid attitude, with eyes fixed on vacancy. When aroused 
makes an effort to attend to things about her, but if left alone sinks back 
into the same attitude. The images of her sorrow are constantly before 
her mind. 



78 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Sir James Crichton Browne ^ inclines to the view that all 
dreamy mental states have a morbid tendency. He acknowl- 
edges that in otherwise healthy minds no harmful consequences 
either mental or physical can be detected. He quotes various 
cases in connection with nervous and mental diseases, such as 
the dreamy state which sometimes forms a distinct aura in 
epilepsy, and argues that men of genius known to have been 
subject to these dreamy states have suffered injury and been 
hampered in their work by them. As an extreme example he 
quotes the case of John Addington Symonds, the historian of 
the Renaissance, who suffered from a peculiar dreamy state 
which he thus describes : " Suddenly in church or in company, 
when I was reading and always I think when my muscles were 
at rest, I felt the approach of the mood. Irresistibly it took 
possession of my mind and will and lasted what seemed an 
eternity and disappeared in a series of rapid sensations which 
resembled the waking from an anaesthetic influence. One 
reason I disliked this state was because I could not describe it 
to myself. It consisted in a gradual but swiftly progressing 
obliteration of space, time, sensation, and the multitudinous 
factors of experience which seem to qualify what we are pleased 
to call ourself. At last nothing remained but a pure absolute 
self. The universe became without form and void of content." 
This description is very closely analogous to those states some- 
times experienced in extreme fatigue when, for an instant, the 
mind seems to stop working and then goes on. It differs from 
unconsciousness in the fact that the blank is felt, though no 
effort of memory can recall any mental content. Such states 
are merely results and symptoms of extreme fatigue, and, unless 
the fatigue be sufficiently prolonged so that the nervous system 
loses its normal recuperative power, have apparently no more 
serious consequences than any other fatigue states. As in the 
1080 cases furnished by the graded schools all the children 

1 "Dreamy Mental States," London Lancet., July 13, 1895. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 79 

present wrote, and, with the few doubtful exceptions already 
noted, daydreaming was reported by all the children and showed 
a very small percentage of morbid tendencies, so there seems 
to be no ground for the assumption of any morbid connection, 
either mental or physical, with daydreaming per se more than 
with any other mental activity. If morbid cases are sought 
they are not difficult to find, either in the form of morbidity of 
content or excessive indulgence, resulting in loss of will power, 
or cases in which both factors are combined. Ch. Fer^ cites 
an interesting case of a man who had been from childhood an 
inveterate daydreamer to an extent which seriously affected 
his college course. He had pursued in his dreams a number of 
fictitious careers, military, marine, engineering, etc., which he 
seemed to prefer to real life. On leaving college, however, he 
engaged in an active business career, was happily married, 
successful in his undertakings, and, having no time for day- 
dreaming, seemed to have overcome the habit. A few years 
later, however, he began to suffer from insomnia, and at the 
same time became dissatisfied in regard to his business and 
household affairs. He took refuge in his former imaginations, 
and though these were less absorbing than formerly, they grad- 
ually became more persistent and finally acquired a fixed form 
in which he lived an ideal life in a chateau which he gradually 
elaborated. He acquired an imaginary wife and children and 
manifested less and less interest in his actual family. He con- 
tinued nominally to conduct his business, which, however, was 
really managed by his staff of employees. Finally, on an occa- 
sion when some one accosted him by name and wished to 
confer with him on business he replied, " He is at Chaville," 
the name of his imaginary chateau. This betrayal of himself 
in public, however, startled him into a realization of his actual 
condition, and fearing himself insane he was ready to do any- 
thing to banish his ideas, but found that they had become his 
masters, and that against his will he constantly relapsed into 



8o CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

his dreams. After three months of medical treatment with 
strict supervision night and day to prevent any lapse into 
dreaming, he recovered. In this case visual images appear to 
have played an important role and the subject was of a strongly 
visual type. Whether in this case the daydreaming was the 
cause or result of a diseased mental state is uncertain, but the 
suppression of the dreams was an important factor in the treat- 
ment which resulted in his recovery. As to the danger of day- 
dreaming in a normal individual the following testimony of a 
man of twenty-six, who has carefully analyzed his own case, is 
of value. A. B. remembers that as early as the age of eight 
years he was a dreamer, and says that his daydreaming has 
been the happiest part of his life, but that " it has made it very 
hard, sometimes next to impossible, to pay attention to any- 
thing dull or abstract. All the will power I can bring to bear 
only serves to pull my mind back to what it ought to be busy 
with instead of keeping it steadily focused there. If one could 
dream up to the limit when one ought to dismiss it entirely and 
attend to the sterner things of life, I think daydreaming would 
be a veritable gift from the gods. But it is a curse when the 
habit becomes so fixed that a man can't pay attention to things 
which perchance have little natural interest for him." 

The tendency of daydreaming to become habitual and ex- 
cessive is, in the present study, most marked in those who 
have strong visual imaginations ; yet the power is in itself a 
mental gift, even though it sometimes prove a dangerous one. 
The great literary and religious dreamers have usually been 
men whose visual imagery was exceedingly vivid. Dante, 
Milton, Mohammed, and Swedenborg were all endowed with 
the power of visual imagination to an extraordinary degree. 
Many drugs owe their peculiar fascination to their power of 
intensifying sensory images and producing dreamy states. The 
Mexican drug, mescal, the use of which as a religious cult 
among the southern Indian tribes of the United States has 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 8 1 

spread in spite of efforts to restrain it, has for its chief mental 
effect the production of colors and forms of wonderful variety 
and intensity. The muscular relaxation noted as character- 
istic of daydreaming is produced by all anaesthetics, and where 
the oncoming of unconsciousness is not too sudden the mental 
states preceding are closely analogous to those of daydream- 
ing. De Quincey, who more vividly than any other writer has 
depicted the effects of opium, emphasizes the impairment of 
muscular power and corresponding weakness of will. The 
effect of nicotine in producing dreamy mental states is too well 
known to need description, and teachers report that boys who 
are addicted to cigarette smoking are invariably dreamers and 
defective in the power of voluntary attention. 

In summarizing the results of the present study attention is 
drawn to the following points : 

Daydreaming appears to be a normal and well-nigh univer- 
sal phenomenon in children and adolescents and may continue 
throughout life. It is especially characteristic of the years of 
adolescence. 

The content of the daydream is chiefly determined by envi- 
ronment, though its forms, like those of night dreams, are in- 
fluenced by age, health, and degree of mental development. 

In early childhood daydreams, except in the case of excep- 
tionally imaginative children, are made up chiefly of memory 
images, actual experiences or stories being reproduced with 
little change. This tendency to reproduce memory images un- 
changed is evidenced not only by the daydreams reported, but 
is further illustrated by the insistency of children that stories 
told to them shall be repeated without any change in the de- 
tails, a fact familiar to every one who has had experience in 
telling stories to children. The future of childhood is usually 
a definitely circumscribed and near future, and motor activities 
and eating figure largely in the content of childish dreams. 



82 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

With the dawn of adolescence there is a marked increase in 
the variety and complexity of content, and the range is greatly 
widened. Dreams of the future are oftenest of the vague 
future with boundless possibilities. The instinct emotions be- 
come an evident factor, and dreams of love are characteristic 
at this age. Both altruistic and egoistic emotions are greatly 
intensified. 

Though comparatively few daydreams were collected from 
adults, the content of these indicated a somewhat closer con- 
nection with actual life than these of childhood and adoles- 
cence. Dreams of the future were more in the form of 
plans with the possibility of accomplishment either for self 
or others. 

The few cases of the daydreams of old age were almost en- 
tirely memories of the remote past, and much time was spent 
in dreaming. Since daydreaming is closely associated with 
fatigue states, this appears to be the result which might be 
expected from mental and physiological conditions. 

Though environment exercises an important influence upon 
the development of the imagination and there is a possibility 
that it may be dwarfed and starved by repression, much is due 
to differences of mental endowment, and daydreaming in a 
marked degree is often associated with high intellectual endow- 
ments and creative ability. 

Daydreaming, like any other mental activity, may become 
excessive and pass over into pathological states, and in conse- 
quence of the fact that it is usually enjoyable and a passive 
state, it is peculiarly liable to this source of danger. 

Sex differences are especially marked in daydreams, many 
of them being so characteristically masculine or feminine that 
the sex of the writer is unmistakable. While this is in part 
undoubtedly due to environment and conventional training, it 
also suggests that in the more automatic workings of the 
mind there may be a fruitful field for the investigation of 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DAYDREAMS 83 

the question of how far mental differences between men and 
women are innate and fundamental, and how far they are 
due to artificial causes. 

Theodate L. Smith 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Binet, Alfred. L'Etude experimentale de rintelligence. Schleicher 
fr^res, Paris, 1903. 309 pages. 

2. Binet, Alfred and V. Henri. La fatigue intellectuelle. Schleicher 
fr^res, Paris, 1898. 338 pages. 

3. Deutsch, Leo. Sixteen Years in Siberia (translated by H. Chisholm). 
Murray, London, 1903. 338 pages. 

4. Fechner, G. T. Elemente der Psychophysik, 2d ed., Vol. I, p. 440. 
Breitkopf, Leipzig, 1889. 

5. Galton, Francis. Inquiries into Human Faculty. Macmillan, Lon- 
don, 1883. 387 pages. 

6. Hall, G. Stanley, and Smith, Theodate L. " Reactions to Light and 
Darkness," Americatt Journal of Psychology, Vol. XIV, pp. 21-83, 
January, 1903. 

7. James, William. Psychology: Briefer Course, pp. 302-3 1 1, 301-369. 
H. Holt & Co., New York, 1904. 478 pages. 

8. Learoyd, Mabel W. ^'■ThQ.ConimxxtdiSiory,^'' A?nerican Journal of 
Psychology, Vol. VII, pp. 86-90, October, 1895. 

9. Le Conte, J. Sight (International Scientific Series). D. Appleton 
& Co., New York, 1881. 

10. Lindley, E. H. " Motor Phenomena of Mental Effort," American 
Journal of Psychology, pp. 491-517, Vol. VII, July, 1896. 

11. Moody, Helen Waterson. "A Child's Letters to her Husband," 
McClure's Magazine, Vol. XIV, p. 55, 1899. 

12. Mosso, Angelo. Fatigue (translated by M. and W. B. Drummond). 
S. Sonnenschein, London, 1904. 334 pages. 

13. Spencer, Herbert. An Autobiography. D. Appleton & Co., New 
York, 1904. 2 vols. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST i 

In the study of the emotions as compared with other activi- 
ties of the soul, psychology has as yet made little progress. 
In the older works of the Scotch school and in the Herbartian 
literature we find elaborate systems of classifying emotions, 
but of the study of the living emotions in their genesis, devel- 
opment, and relation to other psychic factors, little or nothing. 
Since the publication of the theories of Lange and James, in 
1890, we have had abundant discussion of the theories of 
emotion and some excellent introspective work, especially 
upon those emotions which have the greatest bodily resonance. 
In the study of the expression of emotion Darwin stands 
almost alone. Experimentally there have been since 1880 
various attempts to study the emotions by observation of 
changes in blood pressure and circulation. The work of Mosso 
stands foremost in this field, but the plethysmograph has not 
yet added greatly to our knowledge here. A few monographs 
on special emotions have been published during the last decade, 
and there is a considerable body of literature on the pathology 
of the emotions, but the field to be investigated is wide, and 
as yet the laborers have been few. 

In studying the development of the mental attitude which 
we call curiosity, we are confronted by difficulties of both 
definition and analysis. In its fully developed form it is suffi- 
ciently easy of recognition, but to determine where and when 
reflex activities become merged into psychic reactions, which 
may properly be termed stages in the development of curiosity, 

1 Reprinted in abridged form from Pedagogical Seviinary, Vol. X, pp.3i5-358, 
September, 1903. 

84 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 85 

involves us at once in the intricacies of the problems of 
active and passive attention and the development of the will. 
The material for the present study was gathered partly in 
reply to a group of topics contained in a syllabus on " Some 
Common Traits and Habits," issued in 1895, and partly by a 
supplementary syllabus of the present year. The data asked 
for was as follows : 

Ctiriosity a?id wonder. Prying, spying, inquiring, asking why, what 
for, or how, persisting in troublesome questions. Describe the first sign 
of curiosity or wonder in the infant ; sample the growth of the instinct 
by instances up toward maturity, whether manifested toward natural 
phenomena, facts, or persons seen or read of, mechanisms, motives, reli- 
gious teaching, treatment by parents and teachers, etc. Cases of break- 
ing open toys to see what is inside, or experimenting " to see what it will 
do." Later promptings to see the world, know life, travel, read, explore, 
investigate, etc. What excites chief wonder. Secrecy as a provocative 
of curiosity. Age of culmination of the chief classes of interest. 
Utilization and dangers. 

Curiosity and interest. I. Give cases of early curiosity or interest 
shown by infants. State in detail how this was manifested. 

II. Give cases of interest or curiosity in children, shown by active 
observation or experiment. 

III. Give instances of destructive curiosity, — toys, etc., destroyed to 
find out how they were made. 

IV. Give cases of interest or curiosity shown by asking questions. 

V. Give instances of strong desire to travel. Did the interest in these 
cases extend to reading books of travel, etc. ? 

The total number of cases of curiosity received in answer 
to the syllabi was 1247. These were distributed as follows : 

I. Observation 

a. Early stages of staring . . . 163 cases 

b. Active observation .... 108 " 

271 " = 21.73 per cent. 

II. Experiments 78 " 6.25 " 

III. Questions 477 " 38.25 " 

IV. Inquisitiveness 69 " 5.62 " 

V. Destructive curiosity 352 " 28.38 " 

1247 



86 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

To these were added the material furnished by the individual 
child biographies and records kept by mothers. Helen Keller's 
Story of My Life has also furnished some valuable material, 
and a few facts for comparison have been gleaned from animal 
psychology. All the material collected is readily classified into 
the groups given above, with the addition of a group, which 
for convenience has been called inquisitiveness, and includes 
the various forms of aimless and misdirected curiosity, peeking, 
prying, etc. 

Ribot distinguishes three stages of curiosity or primitive 
craving for knowledge, — surprise, wonder, and curiosity ; the 
first consisting of mere shock, a disadaptation. The second stage, 
or wonder, is distinguished from the first in that, while surprise 
is momentary and fleeting, wonder is stable and may persist 
until worn away by familiarity. The third stage, or attitude 
of investigation, is that of curiosity proper. But there are in- 
dications that a fourth stage, preceding these three, should be 
recognized in the psychic accompaniment of some early 
reflexes. Preyer records this first stage of Ribot's as occur- 
ring in the fifth week, Mrs. Moore on the 26th day ; Mrs. Hall 
notes it in the fifth week, and Miss Shinn on the 25th day. It 
is in each case a light reaction, the first active looking as com- 
pared with passive staring, and is described as accompanied by 
a "dim rudimentary eagerness." But Miss Shinn also records 
that at about the end of the second week " the baby's gaze no 
longer wandered altogether helplessly, but rested with a long, 
contented gaze on bright surfaces which it happened to 
encounter. It was not active looking, with any power to direct 
the eyes, but mere staring." In the material collected for the 
present study 163 cases of this infant staring are reported, 
nearly one half of which occurred under the age of three 
months. The earlier ones are all of the same type. Some 
bright or moving object seems to catch and hold the baby's 
gaze. There is no turning towards the object, no active 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 87 

looking ; the eyes in their wandering, uncoordinated movements 
are simply arrested, and in many instances it is stated that 
there is a "contented " or "pleased " look on the baby's face. 
Light and darkness are distinguished, and moderate light 
appears to be for normal children a pleasurable sensation. 
Professor Sully suggests in regard to this first passive staring 
that " it is conceivable that the eyes, happening to be coordi- 
nated opposite some patch of brightness, might maintain this 
attitude under the stimulus of pleasure." Out of the dim, con- 
fused mass of light and shade something, probably a mere 
patch of brightness, has detached itself, and the physical 
mechanism of attention is called into play, — a mere reflex, but 
a reflex whose psychic affective accompaniment, though rudi- 
mentary, has in it the germ of future development, the first 
movement of that intellectual craving which, more than any 
other endowment, differentiates one man from another in intel- 
lectual ability. In this connection a paragraph of Miss Shinn's 
is so significant that it is here quoted : " It is an important 
moment that marks the beginning of even a passive power to 
control the movement of the eyes, and when my grandmother 
handed down the rule that you should never needlessly inter- 
rupt a baby's staring lest you hinder the development of 
power of attention, she seems to have been psychologically 
sound." It is now a recognized principle in the education of 
defective and feeble-minded children that the training of the 
motor apparatus of attention is the first and fundamental 
requisite for reaching the dormant psychic activities. Until a 
certain degree of muscular coordination has been attained, 
attention cannot be fixed long enough to produce any lasting 
psychic impressions. 

While the infant is acquiring the power to converge the 
two eyes and move the lid its eye falls a victim to any patch 
of light upon which it chances to rest. Often the body, or the 
eye itself, or more frequently the head, gives an involuntary 



88 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

lurch, and then the object of vision is so lost that it seems 
to cease to exist. Things that are fixated and drop, or move 
away, appear to vanish mysteriously, whereas these same 
involuntary movements, on the other hand, may bring new 
objects so suddenly into the narrow field of vision as to cause 
a distinct shock or start or other impression of surprise. So 
purely automatic, and as yet unassociated with touch, are these 
first optical impressions, that threatening movements toward 
the eye do not even cause the reflex action of a wink. The 
light-sense in the human infant is more independent of motor 
power because of the inability of the newborn infant to move 
much. Could it coordinate its retinal impressions with motor 
innervations, this relatively prolonged independence of vision 
would not occur. In this respect the condition of the feeble- 
minded child approximates that of the infant before it has 
acquired the control of its muscular organism. In studying 
the material collected by the questionnaire method, careful 
comparison has been made with the data contained in the few 
continuous records made by scientific observers. Samples of 
the questionnaire material are here given, and also a few of 
the points tabulated for comparison from the individual biog- 
raphies. 

Early Stages of Visual Interest 

M., 2 weeks. Looked round the room and often stared at one thing 
quite a while (not active looking). 

M., 6 weeks. Examined his hands, turned his fingers over and over. 

M., 5 weeks. It was noticed that during the latter part of the second 
week the eyes lost their aimless look and began to rest upon objects. In 
the third week the child looked long and steadily at a bright red waist 
worn by his aunt, and a week later his eyes were always attracted by the 
striped ribbon of her hat. 

M., 8 weeks. His mother held a bright flower up before him. He 
opened his eyes and mouth very wide, and bounced up and down. 

M., 8 weeks. Lying in his aunt's lap, looked at some flowers, reaching 
out his hand for them. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 89 

M., 3 months. Will turn his head and move his eyebrows when he hears 
a noise. 

M., 3 months. Would look steadily at a bright Japanese parasol fas- 
tened to the ceiling. Also seemed to look at the fire. 

M., 4 months. A lady with a bright green bird in her hat leaned over 
the cradle. He seemed to notice it and kept looking at it. 

M., 5 months. Seemed much attracted by a red dress. 

M., 5 months. Hearing a door open tried to raise himself. Failing, 
he cried. Was lifted up and laughed. Later was laid down without 
complaint. 

M., 5 months. Would sit for a long time and watch the light. 
Would hold out his hand for a hat or veil. 

F., I month. Stared intently at a patch of sunlight on the wall for 
several minutes ; looked pleased. 

F., 5 weeks. Stared at a lighted lamp, and expression changed when it 
was removed. 

F., 3 weeks. Gazed at a white blanket thrown across the foot of the 
crib for several minutes. There was a different expression on her face, 
and her eyes were more widely open than usual. 

F., 6 weeks. Occasional coordination of eyes and apparent fixation 
of gaze since second week, always upon some brightly illuminated sur- 
face. In fifth week followed movements of hair brush with the eyes for 
some time. 

It will be noted that with the exception of interest in color 
there is, for the most part, no greater range of variation than 
might be expected from individual differences in development. 
From the 163 cases furnished by the questionnaires, and the 
six continuous records, the following conclusions have been 
drawn. The earliest form in which the mechanism of atten- 
tion develops is in the sight reflex of passive staring, when 
the baby's gaze is, as it were, caught and held even for a few 
seconds. This seems to occur in some cases as early as the 
ninth day, though there are more records of this phenomena 
from the second week onward. This staring is to be distin- 
guished from the aimless and uncoordinated movements in 
which, though the eyes may rest upon or seem to follow an 
object momentarily, there is no continuous fixation and the 



90 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

coordination is purely accidental. The psychic accompaniment of 
this passive staring is probably the first step by which the baby 
begins its gropings toward an intellectual life. Whether the 
stimulus which holds the baby's gaze be pleasure, as Professor 
Sully suggests, or whether there may enter into it, at times, a 
vague rudimentary fear, as seems indicated in some of the cases 
reported, something has stirred in the psychic life, and a dis- 
tinct step toward the unfolding of dormant powers has been 
made. The next step is taken when the baby really looks and 
actively directs its gaze toward the interesting object. This 
commonly happens about the fourth or fifth week, though a 
few cases are reported in which the active looking has undoubt- 
edly taken place considerably earlier. In these cases, however, 
the baby seems to have been equally precocious in other re- 
spects. From this time onward, for the next three or four 
months, sight interests predominate in a baby's life. Of the 
163 cases of interest occurring before the sixth month, 1 39 were 
visual and only 24 auditory. This, however, does not show 
superior development of the sense of sight over hearing, as un- 
doubtedly the baby hears and shows decided distaste for loud, 
harsh, or sudden sounds. The development is largely a psychic 
one, and the baby finds the sense of sight more useful than that 
of hearing in acquiring knowledge of his surroundings. While 
the objects which attract attention are varied, as may be seen 
from a reference to the samples from the returns, they are 
reducible to a few groups. All bright or moving objects and 
anything presenting strong contrast of light and shade, whether 
in color or black and white, is attractive to a baby. 

Examples of Early Visual Interests 

M., 5 weeks. Would lie a long time watching red paper flowers dance 
in the air. They were hung over his cradle. 

F., 2 months. Was much interested in a bright red necktie at which 
she gazed intently, following it with her eyes when the wearer moved. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



91 



F., 3 months. Gazed at a lighted lamp as if fascinated by it ; became 
restless when turned away from it and was quieted by being turned 
toward it. 

F., 3 months. Followed a bunch of red roses with her eyes, and when 
they were taken away gazed after them a long time. 

M., 3 months. Was much interested in watching his own hands. 

F., 3 months. Sat and stared curiously at her father the first time he 
kissed her after having shaved off his beard. 

M., 4 months. Very much interested in United States flag; reached 
for it. 

F., 4 months. Appeared quite fascinated by hat with bright red 
flowers. Was also interested in red ball. 

F., 5 months. Lay quietly for fifteen minutes watching a glass chande- 
lier which glittered. 

F., 6 months. Can almost always be amused with a hand mirror. 

F., 6 months. Is interested in faces, especially if spectacles are worn. 

M., 13 weeks. Was interested in a bright red ribbon, pulled at it, tried 
to put it into his mouth, and played with it for some time. 

M., 6 months. Finds his grandmother's spectacles a fascinating object. 

M., 6 months. Would watch any one who passed him as long as he 
could. Same child at 9 months would look fixedly at bright flowers. 

F., 7 months. Would lie contentedly watching her carriage parasol. 
It was lined with green and had a fringe which moved. 

Records of Early Light Interests 





Mere Sen- 
sibility to 
Light 


Passive Staring 


Attraction of First Real 
Looking, Gaze by Motion 


Interest 
in Color 


Full 
Accom- 
modation 


Miss Shinn . 


ist day 


End of 2d week 


25th day 


I month 


I year 


8 weeks 


Preyer . . . 


" 


nth day 


23d day 


23d day 


23d day 


8 weeks 


Tiedemann . 


" 




13th day (?) 








Mrs. Hall. . 


u 


End of 2d week 


28th day 


32d day 


3d week 


8 weeks 


Darwin . . 


« 


9th day 


6th week 




6th week 




Mrs. Moore . 


2d day 






28th day 


15th and 
20th day 





Every color except violet was mentioned as attractive, red 
being mentioned most frequently, but white had almost as 
many mentions, and the data furnish no positive indication as 



92 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



to whether color, brightness, or contrast was the real stimulus. 
In the list of red objects which proved attractive are a red 
lamp, red flowers, red and white necktie, red blanket, red hat, 
and the American flag ; but it is to be noted that in nearly every 
case either bright red was mentioned or contrast was involved, 
as in the United States flag and red and white necktie, or the 
object was luminous, as the red lamp. The color sense of babies 
has not yet been experimentally tested, and until it has been, 
inferences drawn from the apparent attractiveness of colored 
objects, in which brightness, contrast, and motion may constitute 
the whole or a part of the stimulus, have little value. Preyer, 
it is true, mentions his child's interest and pleasure in a rose- 
colored curtain on the twenty-third day of its life, as a color 
interest ; but careful and scientific as Preyer' s observations 
usually were, in this case he made no tests to discover whether 
any surface of equal illumination would not have proved equally 
pleasing, and Miss Shinn is correct in saying that there is no 
proof of color discrimination or interest within the first year. 
Hats with nodding flowers of any color, the glitter of spectacles, 
or the radiance of a lighted lamp, all seem to possess a peculiar 
fascination for babies, but it is about the human face that in- 
terest centers and earliest recognitions cluster. During the 
first three months it is probable that this interest is due largely 
to differences in light and shade and to the constant changes 
produced by motion, recognition by sight being a development 
of the latter part of the third month, according to the observa- 
tions which can be classed as really scientific. 

But though sight interests so largely predominate during the 
first four or five months of a baby's life, the other senses are by 
no means excluded. Sounds are noticed within the first week of 
life, though oftener as disagreeable than agreeable experiences, 
the first record of auditory impressions showing that they are 
often accompanied by a shock which, if not true fear, is at 
least the basis of what later develops into fear. Preyer's baby 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



93 



listened to the tones of a piano with evident pleasure in his 
eighth week, and Mrs. Moore's boy lay quietly for twenty min- 
utes on the twentieth day while some one was singing to him, 
though it is recorded that on the whole his first month was 
characterized by lack of interest in sound. The earliest mani- 
festations of pleasurable interest in sound seem to be chiefly 
of an inhibitory nature, the child ceasing to cry or lying still 
when interested in sound. From the fifth month onward there 
is a marked rise in auditory interests, and these are, for the 
most part, mingled with the development of motor activities ; 
the crackling and tearing of paper becomes an absorbing 
interest ; some children love to touch the piano keys and are 
better satisfied with their own musical attempts than those of 
others ; the ticking of a watch excites active curiosity as to 
where the sound comes from. Sight interests do not diminish, 
but they are supplemented by those of hearing and muscular 
activities, as the baby begins to coordinate things seen, heard, 
touched, tasted, and smelled. Sully {Extracts from a Father s 
Diary) notes that in the tenth week the sound produced by 
striking a wine glass excited "an agreeable wonder," though 
the sound of the piano proved disconcerting. Later the child 
became fond of it and ** evidenced his enjoyment by complete 
relaxation of the muscles." Inhibitory effects and muscular 
relaxation are more frequent modes of manifesting pleasure 
in sound than in sight, where the reaction is often shown by 
widely opened eyes, movements of the hands and feet, with, 
later, attempts to grasp the pleasing object, and looks of eager- 
ness and desire. Thus it will be noted that although muscular 
and skin sensations, including temperature, are those earliest 
experienced, they do not form the chief centers of interest 
during the first months of a baby's life ; the stage of muscle 
interest being distinctly later in development than those of 
sight, and even then sight interests are not subordinated but 
coordinated with them. This acceleration of sight development 



94 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



beyond that of the senses which genetically precedes it, is 
undoubtedly due to its greater utility. In the case of hear- 
ing, as of sight, the material gathered by the questionnaire 
has been compared with the continuous records, and examples 
from both are given. It will be noticed that there is greater 
variation in the ages at which the different developments 
occur than in the case of sight. This is, in part, due to the 
fact that for the first eight weeks, at least, in sight, psychic 
developments keep pace with certain definite physical factors, 
which is not the case with hearing, the ability to hear being 
present from the first week, although the psychic development 
comes later. It is interest in sound, which is later in develop- 
ment, and not the physical ability to hear. Early sensations 
of sounds are, in many cases, connected with either unpleas- 
urable or negative-feeling tones. Light sensations, if not too 
strong, are of a pleasurable kind, while sound frequently causes 
a shock, or kind of rudimentary fear, and often occasions crying. 

Records of Early Interest in Sound 





Sound 


First Pleasure 


Turning Head in 




First Noticed 


in Sound 


Direction of Sound 


Miss Shinn 


3d day 


27th day 


3 months 


Preyer 


4th day 


8th week 


nth week 


Tiedemann 




40th day 




Mrs. Hall 


3 hours 


6th week 


2ist week 


Darwin 




6th week 


49th day 


Mrs. Moore 


2d day 


20th day 


30th day 



F., 5 months. Would always stop crying to listen to music. 

F., 6 months. Turned her head in direction of sounds. 

F., 6 months; M., 5 months; F., 5 months; M., 10 months; M., 10 
months ; F., i year. Interested in listening to music. 

F., 9 months. Was much delighted with organ music. 

M., 7 months. Always cried to be lifted up when he heard any one talk- 
ing. As soon as he could see, was satisfied. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 95 

F., 9 months. Would always amuse herself if allowed to touch the 
piano keys. Would clap her hands to the rhythm of music. 

M., I year. At this age he learned to tear paper, and this interest 
continued for several months. 

F., I year. Was much interested in a toy that rattled. 

M., I year. Would sit very still and listen intently to watch. 

F., I year. Was interested in comet. 

F., 1 5 months. Tried continually to get her rattle open, shook it, listened, 
and then tried again. 

F., 1 8 months. Was much interested in ticking of clock. 

After these early stages in the development of visual and 
auditory interests, interest in seeing things done plays a promi- 
nent r61e in the baby consciousness, and closely associated with 
it is the desire to do. The stage of active experimenting fills 
the second half of the first year. It is the period in which the 
series of sight, auditory, muscular, and skin sensations coalesce. 
Of the child at this age Perez writes : " His activity, doubled 
now by curiosity and stimulated to the highest pitch by emo- 
tional sentiments of all sorts, makes him happier and happier, 
and seems to him so great a necessity that a quarter of an hour 
of relative inactivity weighs on him as much as a whole day of 
ennui on a grown-up person." Whatever the development of 
the baby's time sense may be, Perez is undoubtedly right as to 
the curiosity and muscular activity which characterize this age. 
In these months the range of interests is not only greatly 
increased but individual predilections begin to be apparent. A 
distinct interest in mechanics is observable in some children as 
early as the seventh month, — the wheels of a chair or carriage, 
or the hinges of a door proving a continued source of enter- 
tainment. A little later the problem of a lock and key 
becomes an absorbing interest, the inserting of the key in 
the lock and trying to turn it holding the attention for 
astonishingly long periods. Nature interests, too, are shown 
in these months, the interest in animals, even when accom- 
panied by a certain degree of fear, being marked. Not only 



96 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

living animals, but animal pictures, and later animal stories, 
are a source of delight, and the joy of outdoor life is plainly 
manifested by baby coaxing and pleading in sign language 
long before the development of speech. In Miss Shinn's little 
niece this interest in animals was almost a passion, developed 
suddenly just at the close of the first half year, and was unac- 
companied by fear. A large dog, which the baby had seen all 
her life, suddenly roused her desire and she would pay atten- 
tion to nothing else. " Day after day, for weeks, the little 
thing was filled with excitement at the sight of the shaggy 
Muzhik, moving her arms and body, and crying out with what 
seemed intensest joy and longing. When he came near her 
excitement increased and she reached out and caught at him." 
While this case is more marked than is usual in so young a 
child, the interest in animals seems common to babies in gen- 
eral and continues as a permanent source of pleasure unless 
interfered with by rousing the fear instinct, which, though it 
is of frequent occurrence, soon wears off under normal 
conditions of familiarity with animals. 

The stages by which the child passes from passive to active 
observation and experiment are very gradual, and not only do 
the different stages overlap in the course of normal develop- 
ment, but we find the rudimentary stages persisting even to 
adulthood in the case of the uneducated and undeveloped and, 
perhaps, occasionally manifested by every one under certain 
conditions of shock or surprise. The inarticulate surprise, the 
fixed stare, and hanging jaw of the dull-minded youth when 
brought into new and unaccustomed surroundings are familiar 
examples of this early manifestation of curiosity persisting 
beyond its time. Cases of arrested development and imbeciles 
never outgrow this primitive manifestation. Instead of fully 
developed, eager, questioning curiosity, there is only the stare 
of amazement and shock of surprise. This arrest in the develop- 
ment of curiosity is marked in cases of epilepsy and is one of 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 97 

the symptoms of mental degeneration. The patient loses inter- 
est in anything new, his attention is hard to gain, and he 
finally sinks into an apathetic state with " no wants, no desires, 
no affection," the power of attention completely lost. In the 
training of the feeble-minded the teacher's chief problem is 
to rouse interest and curiosity, so that the wandering atten- 
tion may be held long enough to make a lasting, mental 
impression. 

In the development of non-nal children active observation 
begins to play a prominent part toward the close of the first 
year. No longer content with merely seeing things, the little 
investigator desires to touch, taste, smell, and handle every- 
thing within reach. Curiosity as to the contents of parcels, 
boxes, bureau drawers, trunks, bags, and pocketbooks seems to 
be universal. Rummaging through closets, drawers, workbas- 
kets, or writing desks becomes a delight. The mere fact of a 
closed space seems to exercise a fascination over the childish 
mind. So widespread and deep-seated is this curiosity and 
interest in whatever is concealed from view, that we must look 
for its explanation in the phylogenetic rather than the onto- 
genetic series. We can trace it far back in the animal line, when 
undoubtedly its utility lay in the food-seeking impulse, and it is 
probable that in primitive man, as in animals, the impulse to 
explore unknown cavities, even though exposing the explorer 
to danger and coming into conflict with instinctive fears, was, 
on the whole, an advantage in the struggle for existence. 
Sixty-nine cases of this active curiosity in regard to parcels and 
boxes were described, the ages varying from one to seven 
years, and the larger number of cases occurring between the 
ages of four and six. At about the same ages interest in dis- 
covering why the door bell rang is at its height. With some 
children this becomes temporarily almost a mania, and all other 
interests are sacrificed to running to the door or to some 
position from which the door can be seen. 



98 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Active interest in nature, though unfortunately too often 
repressed by unfavorable surroundings, develops rapidly after 
the first year. Children of kindergarten age (3 to 6 years) 
respond readily to any stimulus in this direction, whether of 
plant or animal life. The desire to touch and handle things 
at this age is so great that we have numerous instances of 
seeds regularly dug up to watch their growth, flower buds 
picked or blown open, and the eyes of puppies and kittens 
rudely exposed to light before the proper time, as well as 
numerous other attempts to assist nature in ways which, 
though detrimental to her processes, are nevertheless 
inspired by a genuine though mistaken zeal for finding out 
her ways. The desire to handle things seems to develop 
concomitantly with the power of locomotion, and so necessary 
to the child's development is it that we can but sympathize 
with the little fellow who, after encountering repeated prohi- 
bition, inquired tearfully, " What can I touch ? " even though 
the artificial conditions of social environment demand the 
restraint of this eager spirit of investigation. But though 
repression in some directions may be a necessity, good peda- 
gogy demands that some outlet for this instinctive desire, 
which is at the root of all intellectual advancement, be pro- 
vided. As an educational experiment, both Mrs. Moore and 
Mrs. Hogan found that diverting the attention to some object 
equally as desirable as the forbidden one proved far more 
effective than direct prohibition. In the former case the 
object was soon forgotten and there was little tendency to 
recur to it, while direct prohibition seemed to impress it upon 
the memory, and constant repetition was necessary until the 
prohibition was sufficiently impressed for eager desire to yield 
to force of circumstances, though the small investigators 
were quite incapable of understanding why the denied object 
should be unattainable. So wide is the range of interests 
which come under the classification of active observation 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 99 

that a complete representation of the material would prove 
tedious to any save specialists, but a few examples are inserted 
to show the character of the material and the range of ages 
included in the present study. 



Active Observation with Aid of Other Senses 

F., 7 months. Cake basket near her. Upset it apparently out of 
curiosity. 

F., 10 months. Took great interest in examining the frame of a picture 
which stood on an easel. 

F., I J. When taken up by a lady, began to feel of her bracelet and pin, 
and to smooth the velvet on her dress. 

F., 9I months. Being put on the floor, crept to the coal scuttle and 
upset it. 

M., 3. Was greatly interested in listening to water rushing through a 
sewer. 

F., 4. Came into the room and saw a box which had not been opened. 
Would not go out to play, and as soon as others left the room tried to 
open the box. Failing to open it, she knelt down and smelled of it. 

M., 4. When visiting was eager to see the bees. Ran down the walk 
and pounded on the hives. The bees came out and stung him. 

M., 5. Saw a garter snake which he tried to catch. Told his mother he 
had been trying to get a pretty piece of ribbon for her. 

M., 6. Looked at and handled everything he could reach in a depot to 
see what it was made of. Rubbed his hand all over a sign " No smoking." 

M., 6. Curiosity easily aroused about books ; always wants to " see the 
inside." 

M., 6. Was greatly interested in what he saw at a basket factory. 

F., Grade III. Got excused from school to see what a toad was doing ; 
ran all the way back to the toad. He was casting his skin. 

F., 8 ; M., 7 ; M., g. Climbed trees to see the eggs in birds' nests ; 
rarely destroyed anything. 

M., g. Has a garden which he watches very closely to see when the 
seeds are sprouting. As soon as they come up he plants others in their 
places to see them sprout. 

M., 9. Would catch and carefully examine insects. 

M., 8. Wanted to be allowed to stay at home from school to watch the 
plumber. 

i.OfC. 



lOO CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

M., 8. On certain afternoons always went to watch the printing of the 
paper; also liked to watch the veterinary treat a horse which had a lame knee. 

M., ID. Was much interested in machinery; very careful in observa- 
tion, and could put simple apparatus together after taking it apart. 

F., II. Was delighted in examining an old clock which was given to 
her for a plaything. 

M., 13I. Was greatly interested in words ; delighted whenever he hears 
a new one. 

F., 12. Was delighted if allowed to go into the kitchen and watch 
cooking processes. 

So closely connected with the stage of active observation 
that they continually become merged in each other is the 
experimental stage, the earliest forms of which, in obtaining 
muscular control of the body. Miss Shinn has so well 
described. These early experiments with muscle and touch 
sensations are soon extended to the other senses, and though 
disagreeable sensations and even pain is a result, these serve 
as guides for, rather than deterrents from, the spirit of inves- 
tigation. Experiments in touch, taste, and sound become 
prominent in the second year, and the latter are frequently 
carried to an extent which proves trying to the nerves of 
adults. Active experimenting with taste develops somewhat 
later. According to Mr. Bell's ^ studies, while ability to carry 
things to the mouth begins in the fourth month, and some tastes 
are differentiated at this time, and biting develops along with 
dentition, active experimenting with taste proper begins in the 
second year. Children from two to four or five years taste 
everything. One hundred and eighty-two different articles are 
mentioned in Mr. Bell's list of objects tasted, including plants, 
hay, straw, sticks, seeds, paste, cork, rubber, soap, tar, dirt, 
worms, and insects, in fact anything " that can be carried to 
the mouth or the mouth to it," quite irrespective of any 
edible qualities in the objects tasted. Another phase of 

1 Sanford Bell, " Psychology of Foods," Pedagogical Seminary^ Vol. II, 
pp. 51-90, March, 1904. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST lOI 

curiosity in regard to taste is the *' teasing to taste," which, 
according to the same authority, reaches its height between 
the ages of seven and ten. One hundred and twenty-two 
different articles are mentioned in Mr. Bell's list, the majority 
of them edibles in some stage of preparation, but uncooked 
mixtures and medicines of disagreeable flavor also figure largely 
in the enumeration. Experimenting with mixtures of both 
foods and drinks is most frequent between the ages of five 
and ten, and a year or so later comes the stage of adolescent 
testing, when the desire to try everything new in a bill of 
fare, to sample new combinations and flavors, appears to be a 
characteristic of the developmental period. 

Experiments in Taste 

M., 14 months. Took a bite of soap. Three weeks later made a second 
trial, after which he gave up soap as a possible addition to his diet. 

M., 3. Began to eat " rat poison " to see what it was ; was interrupted 
just in time. 

F., 4. Wanted to taste horse-radish, and, being refused, tasted it when 
her mother's back was turned. 

F., 4. Was very curious about a box of Paris green and narrowly 
escaped poisoning. 

F., 4, and M., 4|. Tasted grafting wax but did not like the flavor. 

F., 4. Ate a raw potato to see how it tasted. 

M., 6. Experimented with different things to see if the pig would eat 
them. 

M., 6. Received an Easter egg ; ate it immediately to see how it tasted. 

F., 6, and F., 8. My sister and I used to mix up snow with milk and 
juices to make new drinks. 

F., 6. Ate green grapes to see if they would really make her sick, as 
she had been told. 

M., 6. Tasted Tabasco sauce, although he had been warned of the 
effect. 

Another phase of experimental curiosity closely associated 
with experiments in taste is the smoking craze, which is rife 
among boys from eight to ten years and appears to begin about 



I02 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

a year earlier in girls. Mr. Bell gives a list of seventy-one 
different substances tested as to their smoking qualities by 
boys and girls of these ages. Bark of various kinds, spices, 
seeds, leaves, stems, rattan, cork, in fact almost anything that 
could be smoked and was easily procurable, is to be found in 
this list. While it is undoubtedly true that imitation plays a 
large part in this smoking craze, its root lies in the natural 
desire of growing children to test new sensations for them- 
selves, and even the unpleasant results consequent upon some 
of the trials do not prevent further experimentation along the 
same line. 

Up to the age of ten or eleven years there seems to be little 
tendency to specialize in experiments. In the active, healthy 
child the desire for knowledge is omnivorous. He experiments 
not only with his own sensations, but is possessed by a desire 
to find out how people, animals, and plants will act under 
certain circumstances. He not only wants to find out what 
he himself can do, but what others can do, and he wants to 
know the why of things. His mind is open in every direction, 
and it is the golden age for arousing the interests that may 
prove to be lifelong. To repress his activity is to stultify 
his mind, and sympathy with his interests and an outlet pro- 
vided for his activity will do more for him at this age than 
all the codes of discipline ever invented, which fail to recog- 
nize that curiosity and activity are normal to his age. 

A little consideration of some of the examples which are 
usually classified as " naughtiness " will show that they are by 
no means to be entirely set down to intentional misbehavior on 
the part of the child, and that justice demands an investigation 
of the child's reason for the act. 

F., 2. Showed active interest in closed boxes or bottles ; frequently 
tasted things in bottles until one day she tasted oil of cloves. 

F., 2. Was trying to put her fingers in her baby brother's eyes. Said 
she wanted to know how they felt. " How do they feel, mamma?" 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 103 

F., 2^. Touched a hot stove to see how it felt. 

F., 3. Stuck a pin in her baby sister to see what she would do. 

F., 3. Was interested in throwing stones ; tried to see how far she 
could throw. 

F., 4-5. Experimented with a mouth organ. 

F., 5. Used to scratch pictures of people to see if they had life in 
them. 

M., 4. Found matches a great temptation ; always wanted to light 
them. 

M., 4, and M., 5. Were always trying to find out what things were 
made of. 

M., 5. Tried to open the dog's mouth to see what made him bark. 

F., 5, and M., 6. Tied a cat's hind legs together to see how she would 
walk. Several cases of tying up cats' feet in tissue paper. 

F., 6, and F., 6|. Cut each other's hair to see how it would look. 

F., 6. Was much interested in gardening, but forced open the flower 
buds because she could not wait for them to open naturally. 

F., 5. Dug up the radishes every day to see how they were growing. 

F., 5. Seeing tears in her mother's eyes when she was peeling onions, 
said : " Mamma, the onions must hurt you. Give me an onion and let 
me find out where the hurt is." 

M., 6, and F., 5. Put the dog's head in a paper bag to see what he 
would do. Several cases of similar experiments with cats. 

F., 6. Turned on the gas and said she wanted a fire. 

F., 6. Worked very diligently and finally succeeded in taking up 
enough of a carpet to find out what caused a little hump in one place. 

F., 7. Interested in hats. Used to make many new shapes out of 
paper. Experimented on everything that could be glued. 

M., 7, and M., 8. Having seen a steam engine, tried to make one. 

F., 8. Dug up a buried canary bird to see how it looked. 

M., 8. Was very much interested in a pair of new skates and the way 
in which they fastened. His next composition was on skating. 

F., 6, and M., 7. Were very curious to know how flying felt. Went up 
a high bank and jumped, flapping their arms. 

Apparent Cruelty 

Under experimental curiosity are to be classed a large 
number of cases of apparent cruelty, which are due not to 
any real impulse toward cruelty, but to ignorance and to an 



I04 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

impulse which, when properly directed, is the prototype 
of scientific investigation. When a child of three endangers 
the life of her pet kitten by putting it into a tub of water, 
there is, perhaps, scarcely need for the tearful explanation that 
she wanted " to see if kitty could swim like the swans she saw 
at the park," to clear her from the charge of cruelty ; but the 
case is not quite so clear when a boy is found cutting off the 
leg of a live frog. When, however, an investigation reveals 
the fact that he has heard that certain lizards reproduce their 
tails, and wanted to find out whether the frog would " grow a 
new leg," the case seems to be one of a desire for knowledge 
rather than intentional cruelty. In each of the appended ex- 
amples there was an apparently wanton infliction of pain, and 
yet in no one of them was the motive primarily cruelty. 

Cases of Apparent Cruelty 

F., 3. Put the kitten's front paws on a very hot stove to see what it 
would do. 

M., 4|. Broke a little chicken's leg and brought it to his mother to 
learn how to mend it. 

M., 8. Cut a crow's tongue to find out whether it would learn to talk. 
Had been told this was the case. 

M., 8 or 9. Shut a squirrel in a dog's kennel to see how long it could 
live without food. Was much interested in Tanner's fast of forty days, 
which was the incentive. 

M., 6. Cut off a frog's leg to see whether it could hop with one leg. 
Was not ordinarily a cruel child. 

M., 8-12. Broke chickens' legs several times, but always set them. 
Became a surgeon. 

M., 8. Cut off a frog's leg to see if it would grow again. 

M., 6. Was found pulling the legs off a fly. Said he wanted to see if 
the fly could walk on the ceiling without. 

M., 8. Dissected a frog to see how it was made (the extent to which 
this was vivisection is not stated). When reprimanded, said, " Well, 
suppose another frog was hurt, I thought maybe I could fix its wheels if 
I knew what was in this one." 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 105 

Moreover, we find numerous instances of children deliber- 
ately exposing themselves to pain to satisfy a desire for knowl- 
edge, though probably with the same lack of actual realization 
of pain as in the case of experiments on animals. The child 
who ate green grapes to see if they really would make her sick 
had previously experienced an attack of colic, but the mere 
memory of pain was not sufficiently vivid to check her desire 
for experiment. Another child on being told that iron on a 
very cold day would burn her tongue deliberately tried it ; and 
a boy of nine exposed himself to whooping cough " to see how 
it felt." A little girl of five, on observing tears in her mother's 
eyes as she was peeling onions, remarked, " Mamma, the 
onions must hurt you. Give me an onion and let me find out 
where the hurt is." Many cases of what, on first thought, 
appears to be a shocking callousness in children to the suffer- 
ings of others prove upon investigation to be mere inability to 
appreciate the situation, due to a lack in experience on the 
child's part of either physical or mental suffering. Most chil- 
dren have, of course, temporary experiences of pain, but childish 
memories are short, and pain, unless exceptionally sharp or pro- 
longed, is quickly forgotten ; so that the average healthy child 
has very slight appreciation of illness or suffering, and exhibi- 
tions of sympathy are largely imitative. A child who is habit- 
ually cruel is an abnormality and will probably be found to 
have other signs of degeneration, but all the cases above quoted 
have not cruelty, but a desire for knowledge, however misdi- 
rected, for their impelling motive. 

Questions 

The development of the questioning phase of curiosity is 
coincident with that of language, and among all its manifes- 
tations the questions of children hold the most prominent place 
and furnish the most valuable material for study. Though 



Io6 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

there is a residue of miscellaneous questions which form an 
exceedingly interesting group, the larger number can be classi- 
fied under the following groups : questions in regard to (a) 
forces of nature, (d) mechanical forces, (c) origin of life, (d) 
theology and Bible stories, {^) death and heaven, (/) questions 
which are merely inquisitive. These last form but a small 
group in comparison with the others, less than 5 per cent, of 
the whole. Under the first group of questions, in regard to 
nature and natural forces, are included questions in regard to 
the sun, moon, stars, cloud, rain, fog, wind, thunder and light- 
ning, fire, water, animal and plant life. Of four hundred and 
sixty-five questions asked by children under the age of ten, if 
questions on the origin of life be included, over one half were 
on topics relating to nature and the working of natural forces. 
Nearly 75 per cent, of these questions relate to causation. To 
the active imagination of the child all the phenomena of nature 
furnish material for wonderment, and though he often invents 
explanations for himself, questions of " what " and " why " are 
well-nigh universal. Children under seven show a marked 
tendency to attribute personality to the working of all unknown 
agencies. Questions often take the form of, "Who made it .? " 
and though this is probably largely due to the fact that chil- 
dren's questions in regard to natural causes are answered by 
the phrase " God makes it," this does not at all interfere with 
the child's idea of some intervening agency, more within the 
limits of his comprehension. Many children show by their 
questions that they attribute sentience to wind, think that the 
thunder is caused by some one rolling barrels, and that the 
flowers and trees have a life of their own. Some of the remi- 
niscent papers describe a state of puzzled wonder, often lasting 
for years, and which obtained little relief from questions as 
to how the earth could turn over without tipping people 
out of their beds, and why the water did n't run out of the 
wells at night. Some children brood silently for years over 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 107 

questions which they do not themselves originate, but which 
once put into their minds recur again and again, and when 
put into articulate form are met only with the unsatisfac- 
tory answer, "You aren't old enough to understand it yet." 
Those who remember their own childish puzzles will also 
remember the vague feeling of injury which such an answer 
roused, which, could the child have put it into words, would 
have probably been expressed in some such form as " Then you 
should n't have made me think about it in the first place." And 
good pedagogy is on the side of the child. The active mind 
of a child can originate enough questions that are, at least, 
partially within his comprehension and wholly within his 
interests to furnish the basis of a liberal school curriculum 
without the addition of insoluble puzzles. Fortunately for the 
child, the natural tendency to accept things as they appear has 
a nullifying effect upon this premature instruction in healthy, 
normal children, but the delicate and neurotic frequently suffer 
imaginary terrors induced by distorted ideas. 

In a recent study of the faults of children ^ it appears that, 
from the teacher's point of view, the most frequent and trouble- 
some fault in children is inattention and lack of application. 
Trying enough to the overworked teacher, no doubt, but from 
the child's point of view there is something to be said in re- 
gard to subjects to which he is required to pay attention. A 
child's attention is chiefly of the passive or involuntary sort, 
and active or voluntary attention is a later development. It is 
easy for a child to attend to the things which interest him, but 
too often he is required to pay attention to things in which he 
has no interest whatever. Voluntary attention is a much more 
complex matter and, even in adults, unstable and dependent 
upon nervous conditions. It is easily fatigued, and to expect a 
child to continue a voluntary exertion throughout school hours 

1 Norman Triplett, " A Study of the Faults of Children," Pedagogical 
Seminary^ Vol. X, pp. 200-238, June, 1903. 



Io8 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

without an appeal to his natural interests is irrational. No 
study of the span of either voluntary or involuntary atten- 
tion at different ages has yet been made, though some 
careful observers have taken occasional notes on its develop- 
ment in individual children. Mrs. Hall records that her child 
paid attention for eight minutes to the rattling of a box on 
the fifty-third day of his life. The same child, on the sixty- 
third day, was interested for thirty consecutive minutes in 
the rattling of a purse of coins. Miss Shinn also notes that, 
more than once in her fifth month, her little niece spent 
half an hour at a time in gazing out of the window. Volun- 
tary attention is a complex development involving an effort 
of will and dependent upon the natural or involuntary atten- 
tion, and the best educational methods demand a study of 
children's interests, and an adaptation of the school routine 
to them, so that full advantage may be taken of the simpler 
and earlier development. 

Questions in Regard to Nature 

F., 3|. What makes the sun shine? Who puts the stars in the sky 
at night ? 

F., 4. If I put a ball on that hill it rolls down, and what I want to 
know is how God keeps the moon up in the sky .? 

M., 4l. Asked how the moon got up so high, and said he would n't like 
to be up on it. 

F., 5. What makes the stars twinkle? 

F., 5. What do we have a moon for? Why don't it be as bright as 
the sun ? Why don't it be round ? How can it be round sometimes ? 
What good is the man ? Don't the woman let him go out ever ? If I 
was in the moon could I see you ? Why not ? Can I go when I die if I 
want to ? 

M., 5. Asked if the man in the moon ever went to sleep ; why the sun 
stood still ; what made the stars twinkle ; how the dew came on the 
grass ; what made the thunder make such a noise ; what made the wheels 
of the clock go round, and what made the pendulum swing. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



109 



M., 5. Used to wonder whether the clouds run on the sky or on wheels, 
and why they did n't fall down. 

M., 6. Wanted to know what fog was and what made it? 

M., 6. What makes the wind blow ? Is some one pushing it along ? 
I should think it would stop when it ran into a house or big tree. Does 
it know it turns our papers over ? 

F., 6. Watching a beam of sunlight, said : " Why does it stay so 
narrow ? Why is it on this side of the room in the morning and the 
other at night ? " 

M., 6. How can the world turn round and not tip us out of bed ? 
How does the water stay in the wells ? 

M., 6. On seeing a windmill for the first time, said : " Does the 
wind make the wheel go round ? How does the wind make it go 
round ? " 

F., 7. Where does the snow come from ? Where does the sun go 
at night.'' What makes it thunder and lighten ? 

F., 7. Was told that the moon was made of green cheese, and was 
curious to see if it really was. 

F., 7. During a thunderstorm, asked : " What is that, thunder ? Oh, 
dear, what good does it do to thunder ? Who makes it thunder, anyway ? 
I wonder if it thunders in New York." 

F., 7. Seeing plums for the first time, asked : " What are they ? Can 
you eat them ? Where did they come from ? " 

F., 7. What makes the waves roll in ? Where does the water come 
from ? 

F., 7|. Where do all the worms come from after a shower ? Do 
they rain down ? 

F., 8. What makes the snow ? Why is n't it dirty, like dust ? 

M., 9. Wanted to know where the rain came from, how it got down, 
and why it didn't rain all the time. 

M., II. Looking at the river which was very high, exclaimed, "I 
wonder what made it so high, it has not rained very much." 

M., 8. Having had the new moon pointed out to him, wanted to know 
where the old moon was. 

F., g. What is the end of the world made of ? What should I see 
if I went where the mountains touch the sky ? How many stars are 
there ? 

M., 9. Why don't nuts fall before the frost comes? What does 
the frost have to do with it, anyway ? 

M., 9. Why is the moon different shapes ? 



no CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Questions in Regard to Animal Life 

M., 5. Looking at bears, asked, " Mamma, why do they throw so much 
bread to bears ? " " Because they are hungry, and must have something 
to eat. " " Oh, do they get hungry as we do ? " 

M., 5. On seeing a Manx cat for the first time, said : " Did a dog bite 
off her tail in a fight ? Did the cat want her tail cut off ? Do you think 
I can make my cat bobtailed ? " 

M., 4. On seeing a fur boa, asked : " Who killed kitty ? Did kitty 
cry ? " 

F., 5. Why does kitty have fur? 

M., 6. Do fishes go on land to sleep? 

F., 6. How do the flies walk upside down ? 

F., 7. Why do a canary's throat feathers ruffle when he sings? 
How does he do it? 

Nearly twice as many boys as girls, according to the 
present data, show special interest in mechanics, and the 
beginning of this interest is shown at a very early age. Mrs. 
Hogan notes the interest as a persistent one in her boy, at the 
age of fourteen months, and the five years of the record show 
that it was continued. Questions are but one phase of the 
development of this interest, the earlier manifestations being 
active observation passing into experiment, and very fully 
developed in the destructive phase of curiosity. Fifty per 
cent, of the cases of boys' interests and curiosity in all its 
phases are connected with motion, the desire to find out what 
makes things go being a powerful incentive to various forms 
of investigation. Children under three are apt to attribute 
life to things which have motion, their first experiences being 
connected with living beings as causal agencies. Many 
children and animals show fear of mechanical toys, and there 
is a struggle between this timidity, in the presence of the 
mysterious and unknown, and curiosity in regard to the mov- 
ing object. A kitten exhibited, for several weeks, an amus- 
ing struggle between evident fear and curiosity whenever 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 1 1 1 

a mechanical seal was wound up and turned loose on the 
carpet. The movements of the seal were somewhat erratic, 
and the kitten, following at what he probably estimated a safe 
distance, was occasionally surprised by a sudden turn of the 
seal, which he invariably avoided by leaping into the air. 
Whenever the mechanism ran down he smelled of the toy, 
pushed it about with his paws, and occasionally turned it over, 
always starting back, however, if he happened to set the 
wheels in motion. Familiarity finally overcame fear, even 
when the toy was wound up, but it never proved as attractive 
an object to chase as a ball, for which the kitten himself sup- 
plied the motor power. This attitude seems also to characterize 
young children, for a baby's early motor interests are in the 
things which he himself can do, and disappointed friends and 
relatives have often found their gifts of mechanical toys a 
failure, simply because they have too far anticipated the 
natural development, and the toy has proved either a source of 
fear or failed to excite special interest. In fact, even at a later 
period, mechanical toys which are too complicated in con- 
struction or too dehcate to bear investigation, which are apt to 
be clumsy, soon lose their attractiveness, while something that 
can be taken to pieces and put together by unskilled fingers, so 
that it will "go again," may prove a lasting means of amuse- 
ment and instruction. Kites and tops are as interesting to 
the children of the present generation as to their fathers, and 
to the children of the Orient as well as the Occident, because 
there is something for the operator to do as well as to watch, 
and curiosity as to just how these toys will behave under 
certain conditions is kept stimulated by occasional failure, 
and the necessity for finding a reason therefor. The few 
examples of questions here given suggest a range of inter- 
ests which could readily be further stimulated and given 
an educational impulse which could be utilized in a school 
curriculum. 



112 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Questions showing Mechanical Interests 

M., 3. What is inside your watch, auntie, that makes it talk? 

M., 4. Watching the walking beam on a steamer, asked : " What 
makes that thing go up and down ? Is it the man ? " 

F., 4|. Seeing her mother crocheting lace, asked, " Is that the way the 
lace on my dress is made ? " Being answered in the negative, inquired, 
" Then how was it made ? " 

M., 7. What makes the trolley go? What does that engine need 
water for ? 

F., 7. Always liked to watch the oiling and cleaning of the carriage 
and asked many questions in regard to it. 

M., 7. After seeing a pile driver at work, and visiting a fort, over- 
whelmed the family with questions in regard to them. 

M., 7. How does the steam move engines ? 

M., 7. Why can't you see the messages on the telegraph wire ? How 
do they go ? 

F., 7. On seeing an electric car for the first time, asked : " What makes 
that car go ? How can it go without horses ? " 
^ M., 7. Why can some people take pianos apart when others must n't ? 

M., 7. How does pressing the button make the bell ring when it 
does n't move the wire any ? 

M., jh. Asked, " What made the clock run ? " When on a ferryboat 
with his father, asked, " What makes the boat go ? " 

M., 8. What do all these people want to ride on the boat for? 

M., g. Was very anxious to know how the train ran. When he got out 
wanted to know how the wheels stayed on the track. Was told that they 
were grooved and that kept them on. Ran back quickly just as the train 
was moving off and called, " Wait a minute till I feel it." 

M., 9. On seeing a train, asked: "What makes that train go? 
Why do they ring that bell ? Where does that smoke go ? Who made 
that train ? " 

Origin of Life 

The questions relating to the origin of hfe were asked 
almost entirely by children between the ages of three and 
eight, the greater number falling between the ages of five 
and eight. Very few were reported after this age. This fact 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



113 



is significant and has an important bearing on the question of 
what teaching should be given to children in this fundamental 
fact of life. That curiosity on this subject develops in both 
boys and girls before the age of seven is attested not only 
by the instances sent in answer to the syllabi (which made no 
mention of this topic, but asked only for instances of curiosity 
shown by questions, without suggestions as to subject-matter), 
but by the personal testimony of a number of teachers of wide 
experience and many thoughtful mothers to whom personal 
experience has brought home the importance of the question. 
That there is really a falling off of curiosity at this age is not 
probable, and the absence of questions indicates either that 
the child's requests for information have been evaded, and 
fanciful and unsatisfactory answers have been given until he 
has become hopeless of obtaining information from the proper 
sources, or that curiosity has been satisfied by the teaching 
of other children in crude and garbled form, and the child is 
ashamed to ask further questions. The testimony of teachers 
in regard to conversation overheard among children and a 
number of answers by adults to the question, " How did your 
knowledge of the origin of life first come to you ? " have 
shown that not only is this the case, but that in later years 
the way in which such knowledge has come is bitterly regretted, 
because the beauty and sacredness which should belong to all 
thoughts connected with the coming of new life has for them 
been sullied, and this is felt as a loss and an injury which no 
later teaching can ever fully repair. A study of the character 
of the questions at different ages, here inserted, shows in the 
earliest years the simple, frank curiosity of childhood. Later 
ones betray very plainly the false notions acquired from unsat- 
isfactory or untruthful answers which do not explain that for 
which the eager mind is groping, and, worse even than leav- 
ing the puzzle unsolved, plant the seeds of distrust toward 
parents or teachers. 



114 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Questions relating to Origin of Life 

F., 3^. Mamma, where did you get me ? 

F., 5. Where was I when you were a little girl ? 

M., 5. Where did baby come from ? Did God drop baby down from 
the sky ? 

M., 6. Was I a speck of dust? Did it have blood in it? 

F., 7. How did God send the baby ? Did he send an angel down 
with it ? If you had n't been at home, would he have taken it back ? 

M., 7. Where do doctors get babies from ? 

M., 7. Who is " Dame Nature " ? Did you know she was going 
to bring you a baby ? How did you know whether it was a boy or a 
girl? 

F., 6. Mamma, where do the chickens get their eggs ? 

F., 7. How did the expressman know where to leave the baby ? 

M., 7. Where was I before I was borti ? 

M., 7. Where was I when you went to school ? 

M., 8. Where do little lambs come from ? Do they come out of old 
stumps ? 

F., 8. How did you know baby was coming, and get his clothes 
ready ? 

F., 19. When I was twelve years old, suspecting that there was to 
come to our home a little stranger, and imagining that my mother was 
occasionally engaged in some secret needlework, I determined to satisfy 
my curiosity by an investigation. Selecting a time when there would 
surely be no interruption, I went to her room for proof of my suspicions 
in the shape of tiny garments. My search was successful, and my curi- 
osity satisfied, but my act was discovered later, and I was reprimanded. 

Why, on this subject, on which the child most needs wise 
and adequate teaching, should he be left to acquire informa- 
tion in stealthy fashion from those totally unprepared to 
gratify his legitimate and natural curiosity in healthful ways ? 
Too often the information comes from newspaper reports of 
criminal cases, which are read and discussed by children in 
the fourth and fifth school grades. Could parents realize what 
it may mean to a child to have his first knowledge of the origin 
of life associated with sin, shame, and secrecy, they would be 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST I15 

guarded against it as from deadliest poison. One wise and 
beautiful mother of my acquaintance, whose example is worthy 
of universal imitation, adopted the principle of answering 
truthfully, and to the measure of the child's understanding, 
all spontaneous questions. In a family of five children, each 
child has known of the coming of the younger ones, and has 
been allowed to see the dainty garments prepared for the tiny 
baby who was coming to be a part of the home. This knowl- 
edge has been a beautiful secret, too sacred to be shared with 
any one but " father and mother," but each child has shared 
in the loving preparations and joyful anticipation of the baby's 
coming. To the children in that household no false or wrong 
impressions have ever come. They are safeguarded from evil. 
To them the coming of new life is surrounded, as it should 
be, with a sacredness and responsibility born of a pure and 
wisely given knowledge. In pitiful contrast to this is the 
stealthily acquired, half -comprehended, and wholly false-in- 
feeling knowledge of the majority of children in our public 
schools. Teachers furnish overwhelming evidence that there 
are few children over eight years old in the public schools 
who have not some sort of knowledge of the origin of life, 
and it is, perhaps, sufficient commentary on the kind of knowl- 
edge to add that the children regard the subject as something 
secret and shameful. Unquestionably the home is the place for 
this kind of instruction, but unfortunately there are too many 
fathers and mothers who are either unwilling or unfitted to 
give it, and the educational expert who can devise some scheme 
for wise and systematic instruction, adapted to the age of the 
child, and furnishing it with a safeguard against corrupting 
influences, will do more for the moral welfare of the commu- 
nity by the prevention of evil than any number of crusades 
against evils already existent. The power of an idea in a 
child's life is very great, and false and depraved associations 
may so corrupt and influence the thought of the child that 



Il6 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

the baneful effects may linger through life. In regard to 
the manner of teaching, Miss Sullivan's perplexities with 
Helen Keller ^ and her solution are suggestive. In August, 
1887, less than a year and a half after Miss Sullivan first 
came to Helen, who was then seven years old, she wrote 
the following lines in a letter to a friend : " I do wish things 
would stop being born ! new puppies, new calves, and new 
babies keep Helen's interest in the why and wherefore of 
things at white heat. The arrival of a new baby at Ivy Green 
the other day was the occasion of a fresh outburst of questions 
about the origin of babies and live things in general. * Where 
did Leila get new baby ? How did doctor know where to find 
baby .? Did Leila tell doctor to get very small new baby ? 
Where did doctor find Guy and Prince (puppies)? Why is 
Elizabeth Evelyn's sister.?' etc. . . . From the beginning / 
have made it a practice to answer all Helen s questions to the 
best of my ability in a way intelligible to her, and at the same 
time truthfully." " Why should I treat these questions differ- 
ently.?" I asked myself. ... I took Helen and my Botany, 
How Plants Grow, up a tree, where we often go to read or 
study, and I told her in simple words the story of plant life. 
I reminded her of the corn, beans, and watermelon seed she 
had planted in the spring, and told her that the tall corn in 
the garden and the beans and watermelon vines had grown 
from those seeds. I explained how the earth keeps the seed 
warm and moist until the little leaves are strong enough to 
push themselves out into the light and air, where they can 
breathe and grow and bloom, and make more seeds from 
which other baby plants shall grow. I drew an analogy between 
plant and animal life, and told her that seeds are eggs as truly 
as hens' eggs and birds' eggs, — that the mother hen keeps 
her eggs warm and dry until the little chicks come out. 

1 Helen Keller, The Story of My Life, p. 331. Doubleday, Page & Co., New 
York, 1903. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 1 1 7 

I made her understand that all life comes from an egg. The 
mother bird lays her eggs in a nest, and keeps them warm 
until the birdlings are hatched. The mother fish lays her eggs 
where she knows they will be moist and safe until it is time 
for the little fish to come out. I told her that she could call 
the egg the cradle of life. Then I told her that other animals 
like the dog and cow, and human beings, do not lay their 
eggs, but nourish their young in their own bodies. I had no 
difficulty in making clear to her that if plants and animals 
did n't produce offspring after their kind, they would soon cease 
to exist, and everything in the world would soon die. But the 
function of sex I passed over as lightly as possible. I did 
however try to give her the idea that love is the great con- 
tinuer of life. The subject was difficult, and my knowledge 
inadequate, but I am glad I did n't shirk my responsibility ; 
for stumbling, hesitating, and incomplete as my explanation 
was, it touched deep, responsive chords in the soul of my little 
pupil, and the readiness with which she comprehended the 
great facts of physical life confirmed me in the opinion that 
the child has dormant within him, when he comes into the 
world, all the experience of the race." If, in the case of this 
child, blind and deaf since she was eighteen months old, and 
limited in language to the acquisitions of one year, the prob- 
lem could be brought within her comprehension to the extent 
shown above, and touch "the deep, responsive chords," which 
in all normal children answer so readily to the skillful touch, 
there surely need be no fear that such instruction cannot be 
successfully given to children who are not thus limited. The 
aim in moral education should be to forestall and prevent evil 
rather than to devise means for its cure after it is already 
existent. 

Very young children, if normal, will never fail to be very 
curious about the advent of a new infant stranger in their 
family. Here it would seem that certain provisional answers 



Il8 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

to their inevitable questions are necessary for years too tender 
either to understand or to respect reserves that society 
demands. Their questions, however phrased, call for but 
little in the way of answer, and it would be mere pedantry 
and affectation to deluge a three-year-old child with physio- 
logical explanations in detail. It is, however, essential that 
the myth should be such as to give some impression that the 
mystery is something sweet and sacred, and if we had a com- 
plete collection of answers, — the milkman, the stork, the 
doctor, the gardener, God, the angels, etc., as bringers of 
the new baby, — we should find very great differences not 
usually sufficiently recognized and respected. To do this, 
and to devise a mythic answer that is true to the heart, 
instincts, and needs of the child in this brief period, is a 
pedagogical problem still open for solution. Certain it is 
that these highly sensitized juvenile minds can, by eight 
years of age, be so told of the modes of fertilizing flowers 
that some of them will begin to divine analogies with the 
animal world. The phenomena in the latter probably ought 
to be taught for the simpler forms first rather than the 
higher, and the indirect psychic functions of love and the 
meaning of marriage are modes of approach which may 
give due sacredness and solemnity to this instruction. 
Another principle is clear, namely, that information should 
be personal, given on the right occasion of environment 
and interest, and that it should be brief and suggestive 
rather than by dissertations or books that always magnify 
the topic. The greatest content in the least form is a 
good law. It seems a grave pedagogical error involving 
no end of calamity that when interest in sex awakens it 
should be allowed to develop independently of the ideas of 
gestation and birth, with which, when it is taught, it should 
be brought into inseparable unity. In this, as in the theologi- 
cal field, there are generally so many preconceptions to be 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 1 19 

removed that it is often hard to distinguish pure and unadul- 
terated curiosity from that which is spurious, factitious, or 
distorted. 

Religious Curiosity 

Closely connected with questions in regard to the origin of 
life, and frequently mingled with them, are the theological 
and biblical puzzles which assail the childish understanding. 
Over and over again come the questions, "Who is God.?" 
"Who made God .?" " Who were God's father and mother?" 
" Who came before God } " Often these questions take crude 
and bizarre forms that have an irreverent sound to the older 
ears, though they are but the efforts of active little brains to 
bring the incomprehensible within the limits of experience. 

That the story of creation, as given in Genesis, should 
arouse in the mind of a child of four or five visions of a sort 
of mud-pie process of construction, or that it should picture 
God as engaged in baking bread in answer to the petitions 
addressed to him, is but one of the natural results of the 
literalness of childhood. The child's thought cannot tran- 
scend his experience, nor should he, because of this, be 
considered as lacking in reverence. His imaginings are cer- 
tainly no more realistic than those of the early Christian 
painters who depicted Eve as actually issuing full grown from 
Adam's side. The httle philosopher of five who asked, "Does 
God make some little boys good and some bad ? " was facing 
a problem which has puzzled the brains of theologians for 
centuries. Frequently it is only through some of these occa- 
sional questions that we can get a clue to what is passing in 
the child's mind, for with all their frankness children are 
often singularly reticent about what they think and feel most 
deeply. To any one who is accustomed to being with children, 
the following examples will probably seem famihar and sug- 
gest a host of similar questions. 



I20 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

M., 4. When shown a picture of the Golden Calf and told that it was 
worshiped by the people, asked, " Auntie, I wonder if it is all made of 
gold ? Do the people worship it as we worship God ? Why do the people 
worship it ? " 

M., 4. Mamma, who is God's mother? 

M., 4. Had been gathering shingles and asked, " Mamma, do they 
play with shingles up in heaven ? " 

M., 4. On his first visit to the seashore, asked, " Who made the ocean ? " 
«' God." " Well, who made God ? " 

M., 5. Does God make some little boys good and some bad? 

M., 4|. Having been told the story of Christ calling his disciples, 
asked, " What did they do with the fish ? " 

F., 5. If we didn't have any bread, would God give it to us ? 

M., 6. " Mamma, does Jesus have an oven up in heaven ? " On being 
told No, " Well, then, how does he bake our daily bread ? " 

M., 6. When Jesus was a baby did he know as much as God? 

M., g. Had his curiosity aroused in Sunday school and was not con- 
tented till the story of Noah had been told over and over. 

He had been taught we are all children of Adam and Eve and there- 
fore all brothers, and asked, "Is Ish Armour my brother ? What makes 
him black? Am I black ? Why is he black and me white ? " 

F., 3k Was used to hearing God spoken of as Jesus. One day her 
mother spoke of God. "God, who is God?" "Jesus is God." "Oh! is 
his name God and Jesus too? " 

F., 3|. Did Heavenly Father make your hair ? Did Heavenly Father 
make that hair that you take off ? 

F., 7. Mamma, if I am naughty at night, God can't see me, can he ? 
_F., g. If God will keep us, why do we have to pray to him to keep 
us through the night ? 

F., 1 2. Used to ask how Jonah could come out of a whale's body alive, 
how Jesus could walk on the sea, etc. 

F., ? "Mamma, who made you?" "God made me." "Whomademe?" 
" God made you." Some time passed. " Mamma, where does God have his 
office ? Where does he get so much stuff to make you and me ? What did 
he make us for? How did I get down from heaven ? " Not getting satis- 
faction, she sighed and said, " Does God have an office like other men ? " 

F., 7. Could never see why God did not have a beginning once upon 
a time. She said, "If God made everything and everything had a begin- 
ning, when did God begin ? Who made God, and was there another 
world like this earth?" 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 121 

The crudity of some of these ideas is but a natural stage 
of development and outgrown at a later period, but some 
childish misconceptions lead to serious results later, and it is 
a question whether unskillful, even if well-meant, Sunday- 
school teaching is not responsible for a vast amount of scep- 
ticism in later years. The order in which religious truths 
should be taught, and the form in which they should be pre- 
sented, is one of the great pedagogical questions which as yet 
remains unanswered. It is certain that the haphazard teach- 
ing which prevails in most Sunday schools has, to say the 
utmost, very mixed results. Several attempts have been made 
with deaf and blind children to guard their early ideas from 
the misconceptions which beset most children in the course 
of this theological training, and to await the spontaneous 
awakening of interest in the great problems of life and death. 
These attempts have been frustrated as far as their scientific 
import was concerned, partly by the well-meaning but mis- 
taken endeavors of those who did not realize the danger of 
misconception that might do permanent injury. This happened 
both in the case of Lavira Bridgman and Helen Keller, though 
fortunately, especially in the latter case, little harm was done, 
as the form of attempted instruction was unsuited to her com- 
prehension and made but little impression. But when Helen 
was eight years old, having then been under Miss Sullivan's 
care for two years, she- asked spontaneously, "Where did I 
come from, and where shalllgo when I die ?" The explanations 
which she was able to understand at this time did not satisfy 
her ; but two years later the questionings of her active intelli- 
gence reached a point where definite religious instruction was 
demanded, and she was placed under the wise care of Phillips 
Brooks. At that time she was asking such questions as "Who 
made the real world .? " and when it had been explained to her 
as far as possible, asked, " Who made God .? What did God make 
the new world out of ? Where did he get the soil and the 



122 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

water and the first seeds and animals ? Where is God ? Did 
you ever see God ? " Probably many of these questions would 
have come at an earlier age had she not been shut in a world 
of darkness and silence from the time of her illness, in 1881, 
till the spring of 1887, when Miss Sullivan opened for her 
the door of communication with the outer world. But to all 
children, sooner or later, these questionings come, and the 
questions themselves are the best guide for tracing the course 
of the child's thought and finding out its needs. The practical 
character of childish thinking comes out very plainly in the 
questions on death and heaven, the question of eating com- 
ing up very frequently in this connection. 

F., 6. Mamma, do the angels have nothing but angel's food to eat? 
What shall we have to eat in heaven ? 

F., 6. Mamma, where do you go when you die ? Will you go with 
me ? Will we both be put in the same box ? What will we have to eat }. 



Death 

The attitude of most children toward death, between the 
ages of three and seven, seems to be chiefly one of curiosity.^ 
Occasionally a sensitive child reflects the feehng of those 
about him, but usually the attitude is one of inquiry. The 
first experience of death often comes to children in the death 
of some pet animal, or perhaps fro'm finding the bodies of 
dead birds or insects. The impression made is not usually a 
painful one, but curiosity is aroused and numerous questions 
are asked, and upon the character of the answers given 
the child's feeling is chiefly dependent. 

M., 6. Had an interesting story read to him. In the story the man 
died. The child went away by himself and said over and over, " Why 
did he die ? Why did he die ? " 

1 Colin A. Scott, American Journal of Psychology, Vol.VIII, p. 93, October, 1896. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



123 



F., 4. Saw a man climb an electric wire pole and asked the lady with 
whom she was, " Addie, will you go to heaven whole ? " 

F., 8. Used to wonder what she was, why she was living, whether life 
was real or only a dream. At one time she half believed that she lived 
two lives, one by day and one by night, but never had courage to ask 
anybody about such things. In other matters was always asking " Why ? " 
and "What for?" 

F., .'' Had a strong curiosity about death. She desired to be dead just 
to see how it felt. 

F., 7. Why do people die ? Why do they put them in the ground ? 
Do they always stay in the ground, or do they go somewhere else ? 

The child's interest in death is another great opportunity 
for moral, religious, and even scientific instruction, which has 
not only never been met, but perhaps has never been ade- 
quately appreciated. Infant curiosity, as we have seen, often 
focuses on its physical phenomena, and it seems singular that 
so often there is, at first, no fear. In many cases the birth of 
terror can be seen in very young children when they first dis- 
tinguish a corpse from that of a person in normal sleep. 
Rarely, indeed, would curiosity as to how it feels to die 
prompt the youngest child to seek to experience death; but 
often in the history of the race, as in children, heaven is made 
so attractive as to lessen the love of life and even to counter- 
balance the fear of death. Perhaps the pains of hell have 
sometimes been necessary to offset the attractions of heaven 
in the young, when the latter was made too seductive, so that 
a little sense of danger, stimulated by awakening qualms of 
conscience, was needful. One thing is certain, and that is, 
that death, where taught, should first be presented as the 
natural and necessary end of a long life, so that the prevailing 
ideas of it in the young should not be derived from instances 
of premature, accidental, or tragic death. In this respect, 
and from this standpoint, the ostensive instance of Jesus, 
who was killed and did not die a natural death, is often mis- 
leading. Death at the end of an ideal old age can be so taught 



124 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

as to make it not only natural but beautiful and attractive, 
especially at the age of adolescence, when the first realization 
of it sometimes haunts the soul with great persistence. Youth 
is not complete without frankly envisaging the great fact that 
individual life is limited in time, and that the inevitable hour 
is for all alike. Death, at this age especially, is a muse of 
great inspiration and can evoke and sustain high ideals. It 
may be taught as an examination, test, or moral assay. 
Immortality is biological, aiid great stress must bq laid upon 
the fact that the good we do will live after us ; that one of 
the best ways to die is, as the Buddhists say, in thinking on 
our good deeds ; and that the soul must be made so virtuous, 
and the mind so glorious with great ideas, that God, or the 
universe, cannot afford to have it perish. They should be 
taught that the sting of death is to die without leaving the 
world better. Youth can be appealed to powerfully by the 
thought of leaving a name, a record, a memory, that will be 
cherished by those who come after ; and later the concept that 
life must be so led that children shall be well-born and per- 
petuate the race in increasing numbers to the remotest gener- 
ations can be made of great practical power. If all this is well 
done, the problem whether the individual consciousness sur- 
vives in a transcendent world will lose its difficulties and its 
dangers, both moral and intellectual, and can be met with 
frankness and left to the domain of hope and faith, where 
Jesus placed it, with due care to avoid premature theological 
subtleties. 

Perhaps nothing gives a clearer view of the activity of a 
child's mind, and its various interests, than a list of miscella- 
neous questions selected on no other basis than that they show 
thought and observation. The kaleidoscopic picture thus pre- 
sented is far more than a list of amusing questions at which we 
may smile and wonder how such ideas ever entered the child's 
mind, for it reveals the actual workings of the mind in a way 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 125 

not otherwise obtainable. Sometimes, all unconsciously, these 
questions reveal certain facts of the child's environment in an 
unmistakable way. A list of all the questions asked by a child 
during a week or a month would probably furnish material for 
a very fair guess at the child's interests and surroundings. 

F., 2|. Asked if black people were made of black dust. 

M., 3. Will the trees all have the same leaves again ? 

F., 3 J. "Seeds are brown, are n't they, mamma?" "Yes." "But the 
flowers are n't brown. Why are n't they ? " 

M., 4. Where does the stocking go when a hole comes in it? 

M., 4. On being shown his baby brother, asked : " What is he good for, 
anyway ? Can he play ball ? " 

F., 4|. How do the chickens crow ? 

F., 5. Wondered why a chair was called a chair and she was called a 
girl. 

F., 6. Are there any fairies now ? Did you ever see one ? 

F., 6. Wanted to know why the minister flung his arms about so 
much. 

F., 6. Asked if she was wound up ; wanted to know if she would run 
down, 

M., 5. Papa, why don't your eyesights get mixed when they cross 
each other ? 

M., 6. Wanted to know what was inside us to make us laugh. 

M., 5. Playing with the cat, asked, " Why can't Titty Tay talk ? " 

M., 5. Why does my goblet sweat? 

M., 5. Shall I be a mamma when I grow up? 

M., 6. Looked closely at a sweater and asked, " Where is the buttons on 
that coat ? " 

M., 7. On being told that George Washington never told a lie, asked : 
" What ailed him ? Could n't he talk ? " 

F., 5. Does a hen ever get nervous ? Who was the mother of the 
first horse that ever lived ? 

F., 6^. Why do the angels never fall down to earth when there is no 
floor to heaven ? 

M., 7. Where is to-morrow? What is the highest number you can 
possibly count ? 

M., 7. Why does a square piece of wood look round when the lathe 
is working ? 



126 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

F., 7. Is the tick of the clock round or square ? Why did grandpa 
wind the big clock ? How could his winding it up make it go all the week ? 
Did the Lord make it go ? 

F., 7. What makes my eyes open and close ? 

M., 8. What makes the old rooster walk different from the old hen? 

F., 8. Was eager to know what sleep was, and declared she had never 
been asleep. 

F., 8. Do dogs ever have the headache ? 

F., 12. Say, pa, when you sneeze, where does the sneeze go to? 

M., 12. How can far-off things look near? 

M. Why do some people have red hair and some black? 

F. What are debts ? Do we have debts ? 

Mere aimless curiosity or inquisitiveness plays but a small 
part in the incessant questionings of childhood. Every normal 
child is curious, but the reiterated questions, which often seem 
tiresome to a busy and tired mother, are prompted by a real 
desire for information ; and the child's point of view was well 
expressed by the little fellow who, when told he must n't ask 
so many questions, sighed, "But there's so many things I 
want to know." Of the more than twelve hundred cases of 
manifestations of curiosity, only 5.62 per cent, came under the 
classification of mere inquisitiveness, either in the form of 
questions or illegitimate peeking and prying shown by actions. 
Under this heading were classified all cases of aimless prying 
into what could have no objective interest, and all attempts to 
find out, by illegitimate peeking and prying, things intention- 
ally concealed or forbidden. In this sense inquisitiveness is 
not a characteristic of children under five years, and their inces- 
sant questioning and investigating is distinctly utilitarian and 
a developmental process, while inquisitiveness in the specific 
meaning given above is a perversion of a natural impulse 
toward a useful end, into what is useless and frequently involves 
an element of deceit. It is closely connected with defective 
power of attention, for children whose interests are strong 
and whose attention is absorbed by these interests are rarely 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 1 27 

inquisitive in this derogatory meaning of the word. It differs 
from legitimate curiosity, not in its nature but in its applica- 
tion. The mere fact that anything is concealed or not intended 
for inspection appears to act as a strong stimulus to some 
natures, whether or not the object is in itself interesting. 
Probably the primitive impulse to investigate whatever is con- 
cealed is the fundamental element here, and the abnormal 
development is due chiefly to a lack of inhibition and restraint. 
In both children and adults it is most frequently associated 
with neurotic tendencies and frequently with a more or less 
defective physical development. Manifestations of inquisitive- 
ness are too well known to need illustration. Peeking and 
prying into parcels, closets, trunks ; peeking and listening at 
keyholes, behind doors, or other places of concealment ; desire 
to know what every one is talking about ; efforts to overhear 
things not intended for them ; questions about private affairs 
of others — are well-known characteristics of the Paul Pry order 
of person, and as this morbid form of curiosity apparently 
grows by what it feeds upon, its existence in a child as a 
marked characteristic should be considered reason for an 
inquiry into the child's nervous condition. Though occasional 
exhibitions of this perv^erted form of curiosity are common 
enough among normal children, especially before Christmas, 
when desire to find out what their presents are to be, fre- 
quently overcomes the scruples which usually inhibit such 
manifestations, these occasional lapses, especially where there 
is a strong temptation from personal interest, are not at all to 
be considered as symptoms of neuropathic conditions, as in 
the case of the characteristically inquisitive child. 

Echolalia, or the constant repetition of the same question, 
which becomes so wearisome to the one answering, seems also 
to have a close connection with nervous fatigue. The ques- 
tions are asked, not for information, but because, under certain 
conditions of fatigue, it seems as if certain nervous paths of 



128 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

discharge were established and the repetition became almost 
automatic.^ Many of these cases of self-echolalia are reported 
as occurring toward the close of the day, or on long railway 
journeys, or when the child is "not quite well" and has been 
kept in the house for that reason. 

Random questions, which are sometimes poured out in an 
incessant stream, without pausing for answer, are also fre- 
quently due to fatigue, and are often a characteristic of feeble- 
minded children. One child who had sufficient intelligence 
to act as guide through quite a comphcated route of short 
streets asked disconnected questions constantly during the 
walk of about twenty minutes. Sometimes an answer was 
waited for, but in many cases the attention wandered to a new 
subject before an answer could be given, and the former ques- 
tion was apparently forgotten. The mental condition appeared 
similar to that of a normal child too fatigued to remember his 
own questions, but in the one case there is defective develop- 
ment of the nerve cells, and in the other the fatigued nerve 
cells are capable of recuperation. One child of five years, 
after a long railway journey, during which she had become 
very tired and fretful, responded to the effort to amuse 
her with the frost on the car window by asking the same 
question in regard to it twenty-two times in half an hour, 
and every one who has tried the experiment knows the 
difficulty of holding the attention of a tired child for more 
than a few minutes at a time. The tendency to echolalia is 
observable in some forms of delirium, where the same question 
or sentence is repeated over and over, and the cause, as with 
the tired child, is to be sought in the fatigued cells of the 
cortex. Children, undoubtedly, sometimes ask questions 
merely for the sake of talking and not because of any partic- 
ular desire for information, and should, of course, be checked 

1 T. S. Clouston, Neuroses of Development, p. 26. Simpkins, Marshall, 
Hamilton, Kent & Co., London, 1891. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



129 



under such circumstances ; yet the boy of six, when asked 
" What does make you so tiresome to-day ? " rephed far more 
aptly than he knew, when he answered, "I'm not tiresome ; 
I 'm tired." 

Destructiveness as a phase of curiosity is too frequently 
misunderstood, and the child's point of view left out of 
account. The motive is overlooked, and, considered only on 
the side of results, the case is certainly rather bad for the 
child. Out of the 1247 cases which furnished the basis for 
the present study, 352, or 28.38 percent., involved destruction 
of property, — for the most part toys or the child's own belong- 
ings, but in some cases objects of considerable value. The 
age at which this overwhelming desire to find out the con- 
struction of things reaches its height is between four and 
eight. There appears to be little difference between boys and 
girls in this impulse to investigation, though the objects 
destroyed differ somewhat. The distribution of cases accord- 
ing to objects destroyed is as follows : 

M. F. 

Musical instruments 44+22 

Clocks and watches 57+25 

Dolls 12+66 

Mechanical toys, etc 20+22 

Miscellaneous objects, to see what was inside. . . 21 + 31 

Thermometers 2+ 2 

Miscellaneous 12+16 

168 + 184 = 352 

As considerable pains has been taken by the observers who 
answered the syllabus to find out the child's real motive, and 
cases in which this precaution was wanting have been rejected, 
the evidence is conclusive that in the 352 cases of which use 
has been made, wanton destructiveness or carelessness played 
a very small part. Curiosity as to the cause of sound and 
motion, and desire to see the inside of things, were the chief 



I30 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

motives which influenced the youthful investigators. They 
wanted to find out what made the noise, why dolly opened 
and shut her eyes, what made the cow moo, and what was 
inside tops, marbles, and thermometers, and grief at the loss 
of some valued toy was aggravated by a keen disappoint- 
ment at non-success in finding the noise of the drum or the 
tick of the watch. Cherished dolls were sacrificed to the over- 
whelming desire to find out what made the eyes move, or why 
pressing the body caused a cry. One child cried bitterly 
after she had spoiled her doll by poking in its eyes, not 
because the doll was ruined, but because, as she tearfully 
explained, " Now I can't ever find out what makes dolly shut 
her eyes. Won't you buy me another one so I can find out .-' " 
Numerically, at the head of the list of objects destroyed, stand 
clocks and watches, many of them toys, though the list is by 
no means restricted to these. In the younger children, desire 
" to find the tick " is the ruling motive, but this develops into 
the larger interest in motion and the desire to find out what 
makes the watch go. The injury done is frequently an 
unexpected result to the child. So keen and widespread is 
this interest in clocks and watches, even when not exhibited 
in the destructive form, that the gift of a cheap clock with 
permission to take it to pieces affords more pleasure to many 
children than any number of costly toys whose mechanism 
cannot be investigated. 

Several instances were given in the returns, in which old 
clocks have proved a source of interest and amusement, and 
boys of nine to twelve years, after numerous trials, succeeded 
in putting them together after taking them apart, a feat which 
certainly has sufficient educational value to compensate for 
some failures at readjustment. Mechanical toys, more than 
any others, seem to have the shortest existence in the hands 
of bright, active children, a fact which suggests that toys so 
constructed as to show principles of motion and elementary 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 131 

physical laws, without involving their own destruction, are an 
educational need yet to be supplied. Some such, indeed, 
already exist, but they are far too few and too httle known. 
This destructive form of curiosity, due to normal development 
of mentally active children, needing guidance, and to be fur- 
nished with a proper outlet, but not repressed, is not to be 
confused with the careless destruction of toys, due to lack of 
interest, which is unfortunately common in children whose 
interest and powers of appreciation have been weakened and 
dissipated by overloading them with toys and diversions until 
it has bred in them an ennui which has sapped their power 
of attention and left them incapable of self-entertainment. 
Healthy children, if allowed to develop under normal condi- 
tions, find interests and amusements for themselves, and the 
child who has been so reared that he wants to be constantly 
amused, and has no keen desires because they have been too 
frequently anticipated, has been deprived of one of the rights 
of childhood. The child who suffers from too many toys is, 
perhaps, on the whole, more to be pitied than the child who 
has too few. Destructiveness, when the impelling motive is 
curiosity, is closely allied to constructiveness, and some of the 
appended examples mention the transformation which has 
appeared at a later stage of development. 

Examples of Destructive Curiosity 

M., 3. Broke his toy gun to find out what made the noise. 

M., 3 years 7 months. Broke a toy cow " to find the moo." Broke a 
mechanical toy to find out what made it go. 

M., 4. Pulled a clock to pieces to find out what made it strike. When 
twelve years old could put a clock together. 

M., 5. Took a toy watch apart to find out what made the hands 
move. 

F., 5. Cut her doll's body open "to see what kind of blood it had." 
Said it was somethins: like sugfar. 



132 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



F., 6. Broke her doll to see what made it shut its eyes. 

F., 8. Had a doll, and one day knocked its eye in. She broke the head 
to find out what had become of the eye, and then cried as if her heart 
would break. 

M., 8. Took a clock apart and put it together again, though it never 
struck properly afterwards. Took a wringer apart and put it together 
again correctly. 

M., 8. Broke a tape measure to find out how the tape was drawn in. 

M., 4. Had a toy rooster which crowed ; broke it to see what made it 
crow. 

F., 8. Had heard that tortoise shell will not burn, but that celluloid will. 
She collected all the side combs in the house and tested them to find out 
whether they were tortoise shell. 

M., 4. Cut the hair of his sister's doll to see if it would grow again. 

M., 8. Dropped a toy engine from third-story window so that it would 
break and he could find out what was inside it. 

F., 6, and M., 7. Each received a large Easter egg. There was a glass 
at the end to look through. Both broke their eggs to see what was 
inside. 

M., 6. Took a toy steamboat to pieces to find out what made it go. 
He tried to put it together again but failed. 

M., 7, and F., 8. Broke the thermometer by putting it on the stove to 
see how high the mercury would rise. 

M., Sj. Pulled a toy engine apart "to see where the ' choo choo' 
was." 

M., 4|. Had a gong on wheels ; made a great effort to see what was 
inside it. It was iron, and he did not succeed. At last he put it in the 
road and let a cart go over it. 

M., 7. Had a small rubber ball with shot in it. After vainly trying to 
see what made the noise, took a hatchet and cut it open. 

F., 9. Took a music box to pieces ; found she could not get it together 
again. 

F., 5. Had a bank in the form of a frog; took it apart to see what 
became of the pennies that went into its mouth. 

M., 5. Took a mouth organ apart to see what made the noise ; broke a 
toy horn for the same reason. 

M., 6, and F., 7. Smashed a large colored glass marble to see what 
was inside. 

M., 12. Took a mechanical toy to pieces to see what made it go. 
After several attempts succeeded in putting it together again. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 133 

Desire to Travel 

The desire for travel seems well-nigh universal in the 
American adolescent, only three in the entire number (482) of 
those answering this question stating that they had never had 
it. There are but few cases in which a developed form of 
it occurs before the age of ten. The initiative of this desire 
is found either in stories told by friends who have traveled 
or in books. Among juvenile books the Szazss Family Robin- 
soft has the largest number of mentions by both boys and 
girls, and Robinson Crusoe has the largest number of men- 
tions by boys. When this desire for travel is aroused in those 
who have the migratory instinct strongly developed, there are 
a few cases of starting out in search of runaway adventure. 
These, however, were chiefly children under ten, and nightfall 
proved a corrective to the spirit of adventure.^ One case of 
running away from home at the age of fifteen was stated to 
have been inspired by this desire for travel, but, on the whole, 
the influence seems to have been beneficial. In 40 per cent, 
of the cases, desire to travel led to interest in reading books 
of travel, and in many cases this led to a love of history and 
kindred subjects. The influence of a book on the South Sea 
Islands in determining the career of an imaginative and home- 
loving child has been vividly described by Pierre Loti in his 
Roman d'tm enfant. But while this desire for knowledge 
of new people, places, and things is so widespread, very few 
of the cases described in detail show indications of an interest 
sufficiently absorbing to prove a disturbing influence in the 
ordinary routine of life. Americans as a nation are accused 
of a restless desire for change, which is detrimental to the 
best interests of home life, but the interest in travel, which 
is one of the phases of curiosity, and most active during the 

1 Cf. L. W. Kline, " Truancy as Related to the Migratory Instinct," Ped- 
agogical Seminary, Vol. V, pp. 381-420, January, 1898. 



134 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



adolescent years, seems to have no necessary connection with 
the later development of nervous restlessness. It appears 
rather to be an intellectual development belonging to the 
age when the desire for new experiences of all kinds is 
characteristic. 

In comparative psychology, though statements that certain 
animals are curious abound, no attempt has been made to trace 
the development of curiosity in either the ontogenetic or 
phylogenetic series, except, perhaps, by Romanes, who essayed 
to group animals at different levels, according to their psychic 
development, and to correlate these with the different stages 
of human development. Romanes places insects and spiders 
on his third level, and it is in this group that he places the 
first appearance of curiosity, but he gives as an example of 
insect curiosity the tendency to fly toward any bright light or 
shining surface. But there seems to be no sufficient reason for 
attributing this tendency to any psychic impulse, since it is 
explainable on a purely physiological basis. Even in the 
human infant we do not attribute the first turning of the eyes 
toward light to any psychic impulse, but interpret it as a 
physiological reflex. On the next higher level Romanes 
places fishes ; and here, perhaps, we have some ground for 
attributing a psychological impulse, though Professor San- 
ford 1 considers even this somewhat doubtful. " They may, 
perhaps, possess the beginnings of curiosity, if the luring by 
light is not a physiological phenomena." Groos quotes Eimer 
as authority for the statement that some species of lizards are 
so curious that they may be captured by dangling a noose in 
front of them. A step higher, and the psychic development 
becomes unquestionable. We have abundant evidence of curi- 
osity displayed by crows, canaries and parrots, and nightin- 
gales. A parrot with which some personal experiments were 

1 E. C. Sanford, " Psychic Life of Fishes," International Quarterly, Vol. VII, 
p. 330, No. 2, 1903. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 1 35 

made never failed to show curiosity in regard to the ticking 
of a clock. When placed on the mantel he invariably walked 
around it, examined it on all sides, stretched his neck to see 
the top of it, tried to look behind, and showed great excite- 
ment whenever he happened to get into a position where the 
tick was most plainly audible. Lloyd Morgan gives instances 
of curiosity in chicks, but considers their mental attitude as 
reducible to a simple " what," rather than " why," which 
involves more complex psychic factors. Cats, dogs, raccoons, 
goats, horses, cows, and deer all show curiosity in marked de- 
gree, and advantage of this fact is taken in hunting the latter 
by the method of luring by light. Scheitler calls the dog the 
most curious of animals, and calls attention to the fact that 
this trait greatly enhances his value as a watchdog, but most 
students of animals give the monkey precedence over all others 
in the development of this trait. Thorndike found that the 
attention of monkeys was very easily distracted, and considers 
the attention of animals as working always for immediate, 
practical associations and below the grade of the passive 
attention in human beings, which in its development is closely 
connected with the acquisition of a stock of free ideas. Groos 
considers curiosity the only purely intellectual form of play- 
fulness in the animal world, and says, "It is apparently a 
special form of experimentation, and its psychologic accom- 
paniment is attention, which is indeed a requisite to the exer- 
cise of the most important instincts." 

In curiosity, attention loses the purely utilitarian function 
which it has in connection with the cravings of hunger, desire, 
and the necessity of avoiding danger, and becomes play. Groos 
ascribes the primary reason for this sort of playfulness to a 
necessity for mental exercise. But since the new object may 
always prove advantageous, it also aids in the preservation of 
the species. In the higher animals, manifestations of curiosity 
closely resemble those of the child. One of the monkeys, a 



136 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Macacus rhesus, formerly used by Mr. Kinnaman^ in his experi- 
ments, showed his curiosity in an unmistakable way when a 
closed box, painted black on the inside, was placed in his cage. 
He immediately came to the end of the cage where it was 
placed, examined it closely, touched it cautiously, and finally 
picked it up and tried to open it. It came open rather sud- 
denly and he dropped it and started back. His curiosity soon 
overcame his timidity, however, and he picked it up again, 
smelled it, bit it, put his hand, and finally his head, into it. 
In all this the monkey was closely parallehng the stages 
of curiosity shown by children, though his attention was less 
concentrated and he was more easily startled than is the case 
with children. 

The larger aspect of interest and curiosity is almost coexten- 
sive with the range of educability ; but it is believed that this 
paper marks a decidedly important advanced step toward a 
larger synthesis that has so long beckoned students of child- 
hood, namely the determination of intellectual nascent stages. 
Curiosity is the apparent, now partial, now dominant, motive 
in many fields where its importance has never been adequately 
estimated. For instance, Kline ^ and Arnett ^ have shown that 
the truancy and runaway motives are, in part, due to curiosity 
to see the world. Partridge ^ has shown that many take their 
first drink, or, perhaps, even acquire their first experience of 
intoxication, to see how it tastes or how it feels, respectively. 
Curiosity is very manifest in the infant stages of acquaintance 

^ A. J. Kinnaman, " Mental Life of Two Macacus Rhesus Monkeys in 
Captivity," American Jonrttal of Psychology, Vol. XIII, pp. 9S-148, January, 
1902. 

2 "Migratory Impulse," Aviericaii Journal of Psychology, Vol. X, pp. 1-81, 
October, 1898. 

* " Origin and Development of Home and the Love of Home," Pedagogical 
Seminary, Vol. IX, pp. 324-365, September, 1902. 

* " The Psychology of Alcohol," American Journal of Psychology, Vol. XI, 
pp. 318-376, April, 1900. 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 



^Z7 



with its own body.^ Dawson ^ has given us suggestions for the 
order of development of interest in the personages and events 
and sentiments of the Bible. Many studies on the development 
of language and children show stages of curiosity concerning 
the form, meaning, or even origin of words. Interesting illus- 
trations of this theme, too, especially as related to associa- 
tion, and causal and other types of reasoning, are shown in 
the data presented by H. W. Brown. ^ Studies of suggesti- 
bility and the quest of certainty, like those by M. H. Small,^ 
show many outcrops of the same motive. How essentially 
attention is dominated by interest or curiosity all the labora- 
tory and other studies of it show. How dangerous is the 
neglect of natural interest is elsewhere pointed out in the single 
field of physics.^ * 

Important as we deem the results of this study, it is thus 
really only preliminary to a larger presentation of the char- 
acteristic outcrops of interest or the desire to know, which, 
when determined for successive ages and stages, will be 
the best and surest norm for ascertaining when all such 
matter can be taught with greatest economy and with most 
effectiveness, and will also shed great light upon methods 
of instruction. All this again shows very clearly how far 
we already are beyond the arid and abstract formulae of 
Herbart. It may be that we shall sometime come to reflect 
that forcing knowledge upon unwilling minds that are unripe 
for it is immoral. 



1 G. S. Hall, "The Early Sense of Self," American /ournal of Psychology, 
Vol. IX, pp. 351-395, April, 1898. 

2 " Children's Interest in the Bible," Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. VII, 
pp. 151-178, July, 1900. 

^"Thoughts and Reasonings of Children," Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. II, 
pp. 358-396, December, 1893. 

* Pedagogical Setninary, Vol. IV, pp. 176-220, December, 1896; and Vol. V, 
pp. 313-380, January, 1898. 

^ " High School Physics," Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. IX, p. 193. 



138 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

A question uttered or unexpressed is a prayer for knowl- 
edge. The moment when it arises in the soul should be 
sacred, almost like that of the hour of visitation of the 
Holy Ghost to the religious teacher. Not to feed every 
normal curiosity the good teacher will consider recreancy to 
his duty. 

Many questions, no doubt, arise in the average mind but 
once in an entire lifetime, and if the opportunity which they 
make is not promptly and effectively utilized, the bud of prom- 
ise is forever blasted. Perhaps, in the future, education will 
realize the idea of being guided solely by these chief expres- 
sions of psychic need or want. For most of us there comes 
for a time, most commonly in very early adolescence, an all- 
sided, disinterested curiosity, which is the basis of liberal edu- 
cation, but which vanishes later and is succeeded by a second 
growth of interests, which are more and more tinged with util- 
ity, professional success, or individual advancement. When 
such studies as these shall be carried more fully into the later 
teens, this change from what we may call pure curiosity to that 
with an alloy of gain or advancement in it will be more clearly 
seen. Indeed, few people in any community illustrate up to 
full maturity what man as man most centrally wants to know. 
One great purpose of education is to so place and to so environ 
a few individuals that they shall thus illustrate the deeper 
tendencies of race advancement, so that their interests shall 
point as truly as the needle to the goal of human destiny. 
This, we grant, is a very difficult problem, only partially at- 
tainable. Even the child's theological interests, as here illus- 
trated, are more or less factitious, and are very different in 
unknown and non-Christian lands and ages, and due to preco- 
cious doctrinal inculcation. They thus rest on a very different 
foundation, and have a very different culture value from the 
purely spontaneous interests in the varying phenomena and 



CURIOSITY AND INTEREST 139 

objects of nature, or even from that in things hidden, or in the 
mechanical secrets of toys, etc. 

In summarizing the results of this study it appears that 
curiosity develops by gradual stages and is a fundamental factor 
in the development of attention. 

Four stages of development may be recognized : 

1 . Passive staring, considered as a reflex with psychic accom- 
paniment ; manifested in infants as early as the second week 
of life. 

2. Surprise, usually noted in the second month. 

3. Wonder, which is observable about the end of the 
second month, the time when the accommodation of eye 
takes place. 

4. Interrogation or curiosity proper, which begins to be 
manifested about the fifth month. 

These last three stages are those recognized by Ribot. 

The chief stimuli of curiosity during the first half year 
are those of sight. The order in which interest in other 
sensations develop is hearing, touch and muscle sensations, 
smell, and taste. These do not successively predominate but 
overlap, and sight, the first in order, is not subordinated as 
other interests develop. 

Curiosity is manifested by (i) observation, passive and. 
active; (2) experiments; {3) questions; (4) destructiveness ; (5) 
desire to travel. 

Aimless curiosity or inquisitiveness is, in normal children, 
usually a sign of fatigue, and this is also true of echolaha. 
When chronic, both these manifestations indicate neurotic tend- 
encies associated with defective power of attention and lack 
of inhibitory control. 

Curiosity is the active factor in the development of atten- 
tion, and lack of it shows either mental deficiency or bad 
pedagogy. 



I40 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Animals show the various stages in the development of 
curiosity, and manifest it by observation (as do human beings), 
experiment, and destructiveness, though it is probable that, 
except in the higher animals, the full stage of interrogation 
is never reached. 

Theodate L. Smith 
G. Stanley Hall 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Compayre, Gabriel. Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child 
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Darwin, Charles. " Biographical Sketch of an Infant Mind," Mind, 
Vol. II, pp. 285-294, July, 1877. 

Darwin, Charles. Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals. 
D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1873. 374 pages. 

Darwin, Charles. Descent of Man (2d edition). D. Appleton & Co., 
New York, 1903. 688 pages. 

Groos, Karl. The Play of Animals (translated by Elizabeth L.Baldwin). 
D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1898. 341 pages. 

Hall, Mrs. Winfield S. "The First Five Hundred Days of a Child's 
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522-537, 586-608, 1896-1897. 

Hogan, Louise E. A Study of a Child. Harper & Brothers, New 
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James, William. Principles of Psychology, pp. 383-441. D. Appleton 
& Co., New York, 1890. 

Keller, Helen A. The Story of My Life, pp. 22, 23. Doubleday, Page 
& Co., New York, 1904. 441 pages. 

Moore, Mrs. Kathleen C. Mental Development of a Child, New York, 
1896 (150 pages) ; also Psychological Review., Mojiograph Supplements, 
Vol. I, No. 3, 1896 (150 pages). 

Morgan, C. Lloyd. Introduction to Comparative Psychology. W.Scott, 
Ltd., London, 1902. 382 pages. 

Preyer, Wilhelm. Mind of the Child : Part I, The Senses and Will ; 
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Perez, Bernard. The First Three Years of Childhood. Bardeen, 
Syracuse and London, 1899. 294 pages. 

Ribot, Th. Diseases of the Will (2d edition). Open Court Publish- 
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Ribot, Th. Psychology of Attention. Open Court Publishing Com- 
pany, Chicago, 1890. 137 pages. 



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Ribot, Th. Psychology of the Emotions. W. Scott, Ltd., London, 
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Romanes, G. J. Mental Evolution in Animals. D. Appleton & Co., 
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Romanes, G. J. Mental Evolution in Man. D. Appleton & Co., 
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Shinn, Milicent W. Notes on the Development of a Child, Univer- 
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Sully, James. The Human Mind, Vol. II, pp. 1 22-1 71. Longmans, 
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Sully, James. Studies of Childhood. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 
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Stout, G. F. Manual of Psychology, pp. 393-434. Hinds, Noble 
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Thorndike, Edward L. " Mental Life of Monkeys," Psychological 
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THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 

The town of B is a quiet community of a few score 

families of farmers, some twenty or thirty miles from Boston. 
Among the few cottagers who spend the summer months 
there is the Rev. Dr. A , a professor at Cambridge, Mas- 
sachusetts, and widely known as an author. The family 

consists of Mrs. A and two bright, healthy boys, now 

fourteen and twelve, whom I will here call, respectively, Harry 
and Jack. Nine summers ago the mother persisted, not with- 
out some inconvenience, in having a load of fine clean sand 
hauled from a distant beach and dumped in the yard for the 
children to play in. What follows might be called a history 
of that load of sand, which I will try to sketch in the most 
literal and unadorned way, as I saw and heard of it, for the 
sake of its unique educational interest. 

The " sand pile" at once became, as every one who has read 
Frobel or observed childish play would have expected, the one 
bright focus of attraction, beside which all other boyish inter- 
ests gradually paled. Wells and tunnels ; hills and roads like 
those in town ; islands and capes and bays with imagined 
water ; rough pictures drawn with sticks ; scenes half repro- 
duced in the damp, plastic sand and completed in fancy ; 
mines of ore and coal, and quarries of stone, buried to be 
rediscovered and carted to imaginary markets, and later a 
more elaborate half -dug and half -stoned species of cave dwell- 
ing or ice house — beyond such constructions the boys prob- 
ably did not go for the first summer or two. The first and 
oldest " house," of which tradition survives, was a board 
pegged up on edge with another slanted against it, under 
which toys were taken from the nursery to be sheltered from 

142 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 



143 



showers. Next came those made of two bricks and a board. 
The parents wisely refrained from suggestions, and left the 
hand and fancy of the boys to educate each other under the 
tuition of the mysterious play instinct. 

One day a small knot of half -rotten wood was found, a part 
of which suggested to Harry the eye and head of a horse, and 
a horse it at once became, though it had nothing to suggest 
tail or legs. In another artificial horse soon attempted these 
were represented by roughly whittled projections. Gradually 
wooden horses, made in spans for firmer standing on uneven 
ground, held together by a kind of Siamese-twins commissure, 
to which vehicles could be conveniently attached, were evolved. 
These horses were perhaps two inches long, with thread tail and 
mane, pin-head eyes, and a mere bulb, like the Darwinian 
protuberance on the infolded margin of the human helix, for 
an ear. For the last two or three years this form has become 
rigidly conventionalized, and horses are reproduced by the 
jig saw as the needs of the community require, with Chinese 
fidelity to this pattern. Cows and oxen, with the character- 
istic distinctions in external form strongly accented, were 
drawn on paper or pasteboard and then cut or sawed into shape 
in wood. Those first made proved too small compared with 
later standards of size, and so were called yearlings and calves, 
and larger "old steers" and "Vermont spotted cattle" were 
made. Pigs and sheep came later, poultry alone being still 
unshapely, hens consisting of mere squares of wood of pre- 
scribed size. 

There is no further record or memory of the stages of 
development of this community, for such it soon became by 
the gradual addition of half a dozen other congenial boys from 
the neighborhood, and I can only describe the buildings, 
government, tools, money, trade, laws, men, etc., as I found 
them. Nearly a dozen farms are laid out on one main and 
several lesser streets, somewhat like those in town, each, 



144 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

perhaps, five or six feet square, with tiny rows of stone for walls 
and fences, with pastures and mow lots, and fields planted 
with real beans, wheat, oats, and corn, which is topped before 
it has spindled, and with a vase or box for a flower garden. 
A prominent feature of these farms is at present the gates, 
which are admirably mortised and hung, and perhaps repre- 
sent the high-water mark of skill in woodwork. This unique 
prominence of a single feature on which attention is concen- 
trated is a typical mark of childish production ; as a girl or 
boy is drawn with buttons, or a hat, or a pocket, or a man 
with a pipe, or a house with a keyhole, etc., strikingly pre- 
dominant. The view of this Lilliputian settlement from the 
road is quite picturesque. Houses and barns are perhaps a 
foot high, and there is a flagpole, painted and sanded at the 
base to prevent the tiny inhabitants from whittling it, with 
a joint, and cords to raise and lower the flag, and a peg ladder, 
the top towering perhaps two feet above the ground. There 
are pig pens with quite well-carved troughs, and hen yards 
with wire-net fences, and a very undeveloped system of sew- 
erage, suggested by a disastrous shower and centering in a 
sunken tomato can. 

Great attention has been bestowed on the barns. On one 
side are stanchions for cows, with stalls for horses and others 
for yoked cattle, and stairs and lofts for hay, and genuine 
slanting roofs, and doors that clamp and bar inside against 
horse thieves. One boy built a cupola and another a wind- 
mill, painted in many colors, on his barn, but this fashion did 
not take. The doors are not large enough for the boys' hands 
to enter with facility, and so the whole building was made to 
lift up from its floor on hinges. Hay is cut and dried, and 
sometimes stored in mows on scaffolds, while poorer hay is 
stacked out of doors about a skewer for a stack pole. More 
recently, however, most hay is put up in pressed bales, about 
one by two inches, for market, or to be kept over for another 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 



145 



year. Most other crops that are planted do not come to 
maturity, and so wheat, beans, corn, oats, etc., are bagged 
and sold or stored " as if " they had been grown by the seller. 
In this community, as often in real life in New England, the 
barn is often far larger, more expensive, and attracts more 
interest than the house. Only the outsides of the latter are 
attended to. The youngest boy alone, despite some ridicule 
for his girlishness, has embellished his house within, and set 
out moss and planted flower beds and vines without. A 
young lady visitor thoughtlessly introduced a taste for luxury 
by painting not only shingles on the roof and bricks into the 
chimney, but lace curtains into the windows of one house. 
Another boy proprietor dug and stoned up a well, made a long 
sweep and hung it with a counterweight in a natural crotch, 
and made a bucket of a cherry stone. 

The adult population of this community are men and 
women about two and a half inches tall, whittled out of 
wood. The women stand on a base made by their broad 
skirts, and the men stand on ground, or on carts, etc., by 
means of a pin projecting from the feet, by which they can 
be stuck up anywhere. One or both arms are sometimes 
made to move, but otherwise they are very roughly manufac- 
tured. They have been kept for years, are named Bill Murphy, 
Charles Stoughton, Peter Dana, etc., from real men in town, 
and each have families, etc. Each boy represents one of these 
families, but more particularly the head of it, whose name he 
takes, and whom he talks both to and for, nasally, as does 
the original Bill Murphy, etc. In fact, the personality of the 
boys is strangely merged in that of these little idols or fetiches. 
If it is heard that the original Farmer Murphy has done any- 
thing disreputable, — cheated in a horse trade, for instance, — 
the other boys reproach or threaten with expulsion the boy 
who represents the wooden Murphy, greatly to his chagrin. 
The leg of one wooden man was blown off by a toy cannon 



146 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

accidentally one Fourth of July, and he was given up as dead, 
but found some months later, and supplied with a new leg 
by the carpenter doctor. The boys get up at night to bring 
these men in if they get left out accidentally, keeping them 
in the house if they catch cold by such exposure, take them 
along in their pockets if they go to the city or on a pleasure 
trip, send them in letters and express packages to distant 
friends, to be returned, in order that they may be said to 
have been to this or that place. The best man has traveled 
most, keeps his farm in best order, has the most joints in 
his body, keeps dressed in the best coat of paint, represents 
the best farmer in town, and is represented by the best boy. 
The sentiment toward these little figures is more judicial and 
paternal than that of little girls for dolls. Their smallness 
sefems to add a charm akin to that of largeness in a doll for 
girls. If a new boy enters the community, or if accident or 
general consent or any other cause requires the production 
of new men, they are still made roughly after the old patterns, 
and far below the best skill the boys have now acquired in 
woodwork. Two years ago, when clothes began to be painted 
on these figures, those who were created as wage workers 
were painted with overalls. The question at once arose 
whether these men should be allowed to come into the house 
with their employers without a change of garments, which 
involved, of course, a new coat of paint. It was decided that 
they must live apart by themselves. Thus the introduction 
of hired men marked the beginning of a system of castes. 
The boys' own wishes and thoughts are often, especially if 
of a kind that involves a little self-consciousness or restraint, 
expressed by saying half seriously that the little figure wishes 
to do this, or thinks that, etc. Their supposed relation to 
one another in the high tide of the play spirit dominates the 
actual relation of the boys to one another, as two little girls 
who were sisters were overheard saying, " Let 's play we are 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 1 47 

sisters," almost as if the play made that relation more real 
than the fact. 

Prominent among the benefits the " sand-p^le " community- 
has brought the boys is the industrial training it has involved, 
particularly in , woodwork. In this respect preparation for 
the summer is made to enliven the long Cambridge winters. 
The evolution of the plow, e.g., is as follows : It began as 
a rough, pointed paddle, then came a pole drawn by the 
small end with a stiff branch cut long and sharpened, then a 
rough share, then a metallic point, then two handles, then a 
knife, etc. Thus the plow, which fortunately did not get 
stereotyped early, has passed through a number of stages 
still to be seen, and is now quite complete in fo;-m. In the 
case of the hoe and ax, wood has supplanted metal because 
more easily and correctly fashioned. The rake, shovel, pick, 
harrow, dray, pitchfork, snow shovel, ladder, stone boat, bee- 
tle, wedge, and gravel sieve, all show stages of improve- 
ment, and sometimes involve some skill in shaping or adapting 
wire, tin, etc. These tools are all very small, and not for the 
most part adapted to much real use, and quite dispropor- 
tionately large as compared with the size of houses and men. 
Milk cans, pulleys, wheelbarrows, carts, wagons, and har- 
nesses are made with still more skill. Harnesses have real 
collars, hames, bit, bridle, and string lines. Wagons have 
wheels (made of a section of a large curtain stick or of checker- 
board men), brakes, end boards, kingbolts, neaps and shafts, 
stakes for hay, a high seat for the driver, etc. They can be 
made to tip up, and include many varieties, as a milk cart 
with money box, a long timber truck, market wagon, and 
others. Could the stages of evolution through which a few 
of these implements of farm work have passed be pinned on 
cards in their order of development and photographed, they 
would quite likely reflect in some respects the progress of 
mankind in their production. It is in connection with these 



148 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

products mainly that a patent office has been proposed, but 
up to the close of last season not established. 

Carpentry has thus proved the most successful industry, 
and has of late slowly come to be largely the monopoly of 
Harry, who probably has most skill and the best tools. One 
boy made a croquet set of very miniature proportions. Another 
established brickworks, based on a careful study of those in 
Cambridge ; but the products of his yard, though admirably 
done, have not come into demand as building material. An- 
other attempted molding and pottery, including baking, but 
with rather poor success. A tiny newspaper some three 
inches square, devoted entirely to the affairs of the "sand 
pile," was started, with seven subscribers, at a dollar per 
month in their peculiar currency, but the labor of duplicating 
soon caused its abandonment. At one time candles were 
manufactured in tiny molds. Two sailing vessels, the Argo- 
naut and Neptune, were made and raced till boom and gaff 
were broken. Tiny pine trees were set out, and ash fertilizers 
prepared and used for crops. The farmers near by go to a 
distant meadow to cut marsh hay at low tide, and are gone 
overnight. This the boys parodied with a damp spot of mow 
land as a marsh, and the overnight part was represented by 
the interval of dinner. Cord wood of several lengths, with 
an inch representing a foot, and with both cleft and trash 
varieties, was cut down, piled, and sold. On one occasion 
the boys were observed creeping about one eighth of a mile 
and back, propelling their tiny horses held between their 
fingers, each span drawing a cart loaded with their wood. 
The functions of carpenter and doctor are fused in one, the 
office of the latter being chiefly to mend broken limbs, splints 
being used, but the regenerative force of nature being repre- 
sented by the drying of glue. 

Trade centered in the grocery store, of which Jack was one 
proprietor, the name of the puppet he represented being 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 149 

painted on the sign. A toy watch was hung in the gable to 
represent the clock over Faneuil Hall market, and a clay- 
watchdog was on guard by night. Cans of pickles, partridge 
berries, and huckleberries were put up in small glass bottles; 
candy was sold by the barrel ; tomatoes were represented by 
red barberries, and watermelons by butternuts. Grass put up 
in bags for cows and horses was sold by weight on a pair of 
small scales. Shelves and counters and a canvas-topped 
market wagon were the chief features of this establishment. 
Its goods were, however, for the most part, in a sense unreal, 
its business declined until at last its proprietors were obliged 
to declare themselves bankrupt, and a bill of sale and auction 
closed its career. 

The need of a measure of value and a medium of exchange 
was felt early in the history of the "sand pile." A special 
kind of cardboard was procured, and later, as this material 
was found not to be proof against counterfeiting, a species of 
felt was used, out of which small ellipsoidal currency was cut 
with a gouge of peculiar curvature. These coins were of two 
sizes, representing dollars and half dollars, respectively. At 
the beginning of the first season ninety dollars and fifty half 
dollars were given to each boy, and the gouge and felt, repre- 
senting mint and bullion, laid away, thus insuring a strictly 
limited circulation. This currency became so very real that 
actual silver dollars and half dollars were said, I know not how 
correctly, to have been vainly offered for their felt counter- 
parts, the fluctuations in the silver value of which recorded 
the varying intensity of the play spirit of the " sand pile." 
When the grocer failed he became really a pauper on the 
community. He was, I think, the youngest boy, and his 
monetary ventures had gradually relieved him of his entire 
capital. He was aided in little ways, and meetings were 
held to discuss the best way of relieving him. One propo- 
sition was a general pro-rata subscription ; another was a 



150 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

communistic redistribution of the money of the community. 
These schemes were successfully opposed, however, and it 
was at last agreed to inflate their first currency by issuing 
enough money to give each boy an additional sum of ten dol- 
lars. While this matter was under discussion, and redistribu- 
tion was expected by some, prices were affected, and a few 
sales were made at prices so high as to cause embarrassment 
later. 

Laws were enacted only to meet some pressing necessity. 
Town meetings were summoned by an elected crier, who 
shouted, " Ding dong, come to town meeting ! " These assem- 
blages were at first held on and about the fence or near their 
hotel, each boy holding his little wooden dummy in his hand 
and turning up its arm when ayes or noes were called. Later 
a bell and hall were provided. The officers elected were 
president, flagman, whose duty it was to keep the flagpole 
in order and the flag flying, a pound-keeper to look after stray 
animals carelessly left lying about or lost by other boys, a 
surveyor of roads, whose duties were sometimes considerable 
after a shower, a janitor for the hall, and a sprinkler and 
waterer of crops, etc. A scheme of taxation was proposed, 
but as it was to be based mainly on land, and as the task of 
measuring the sometimes irregularly laid out farms was con- 
siderable, it was never carried out. A system of fines was 
also adopted, the enforcement of which led to quarrels and 
was stopped by parental interventions. A jail and a grogshop 
shared a similar fate. So great was the influence of proceed- 
ings in this community upon the general direction of interest 
and attention that it was feared that an undesirable degree 
of knowledge of criminality and intemperance would be fos- 
tered if these latter institutions were allowed to develop. It 
was at these meetings that the size of a cord of wood and an 
acre of land was settled. Judicial as well as legislative func- 
tions appertained to these meetings. After a firecracker had 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 151 

blown up a house a law was passed limiting the proximity to 
the village at which fireworks should be permissible. A big 
squirt gun served as a fire engine, and trouble was at once 
imminent as to who should control and use it, till it was 
enacted that it should be under the control of the boy whose 
buildings were burning. One boy was tried for beating his 
horses with a pitchfork, and another for taking down the 
pound wall and leading out his cattle without paying the fine. 
Railroads were repeatedly proposed, but never^ constructed, 
since the earliest days of the " sand pile," when they did exist 
for a short time, for the double reason that they would inter- 
fere with teaming, which was on the whole still more interest- 
ing, and because every boy would want to be conductor and 
president of the company. 

" Why do you have no church ? " the boys were asked. 
" Because," they replied, " we are not allowed to play in the 
' sand pile ' on Sunday, but have to go to church." "And 
why have you no school }" " Why," said they, exultingly, 
" it is vacation, and we don't have to go to school." 

The geography of the surrounding region is not well devel- 
oped. The house in which the parents lived is called Cam- 
bridge, its piazza is Concord. A gully made by a water spout 
is Rowley. Another smaller sand pile once started near by is 

West B . A neighbor's house, more recent, is Vermont. A 

place where worms are dug for fishing is called Snakeville, 
and another spot where some Oswego starch boxes once lay 
is Oswego. Boston is a neighboring settlement. The topo- 
graphical imagination of these boys is far less developed than 
in the case of a group of school children the writer once knew, 
who played for years about a marsh half submerged in spots 
by high tide, and who had named continents, capes, bays, 
lakes, rivers, islands, promontories, to the number of perhaps 
several score, from real or fancied resemblance to great fea- 
tures of the world's surface on the map, and who had in a 



152 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

number of cases helped out resemblances by digging, and who 
carried on a brisk commerce between leading ports for entire 
summers, with many details and circumstances of real trade. 

The conservatism of Harry and Jack and the boys that 
gathered about them was shown even in the name " sand 
pile," which the whole enterprise still bears. This designa- 
tion is now entirely inappropriate, for all the sand originally 
dumped on the spot has been carefully removed and its place 
filled in with loam. Each spring, when the houses, barns, 
etc., are brought out and set up, the traditions of the preced- 
ing year are carefully observed in laying out the streets. 
Most boys hold that the monetary relations of the previous 
year should continue over to the new season, the rich at the 
close of the last year starting rich this year. This view gen- 
erally prevails against the theory of an annual year of jubilee, 
and a release from last year's debts, that the poorer boys 
uphold. All the boys in town, even those who do not belong 
to the " sand pile," are not only greatly interested, but decid- 
edly more proud than envious of it. It seems remarkable 
that during all the years of its existence no boy has been 
mean enough to injure or plunder it at night, or angry enough 
to demolish anything of importance. This latter is, of course, 
in part due to the gradual habit of settling matters of dispute 
that are wont to be brought to an issue with fists and feet or 
by meetings and speeches. The accumulation of values here 
as elsewhere begets not only conservatism but mutual for- 
bearance and consideration. Most destructive in the " sand 
pile " are Uttle girls, who quite fail to appreciate it, save in 
spots, as it were, and are therefore as far as possible excluded. 

The institution is in general very real to the boys, though 
in different degrees to different boys, and some parts and 
some periods of it more so than others. Sometimes they are 
so in earnest that they rise early to play before breakfast. They 
pour out grain for the cattle, and tip them up on their noses 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 153 

that they may eat, and then must clean up after them. The 
cattle " promise " the younger boys not to eat the beans, and 
the wooden figures never talk about the boys behind their 
backs, for ''they told us so," said one. Of all the names in 
use in the ** sand pile," but one has been invented, all the 
rest having been copied from real persons about them. They 
are little troubled by incongruities of size. Some barns cover 
between one and two acres, and a horse could almost be 
ground up and put into a bushel measure, etc. Yet in a 
general way relative sizes are fairly preserved. It is a strik- 
ing feature, to which I have observed no exception, that the 
more finished and like reahty the objects became, the less 
interest the boys had in them. As the tools, houses, etc., 
acquired feature after feature of verisimilitude, the sphere of 
the imagination was restricted, as it is with too finished toys, 
and thus one of the chief charms of play was lost. Often the 
entire day was spent with almost no intermission in the busi- 
ness of the " sand pile," and all went very pleasantly when 
perfect harmony reigned. The boys most absorbed have de- 
voted most of their playtime of nearly every day for several 
summers to its very diversified direct and indirect interests. 

As boys reach the age of fourteen, more or less, the " sand- 
pile " gradually loses its charm, and seems childish and un- 
real. One member of the circle was, I think, fifteen, and had 
become quite alive to its fictitious nature. Unimaginative boys 
have proved mischievous and a source of constant annoyance 
to those who took everything in dead earnest. Thus it has 
been realized that to admit aliens indiscriminately, or espe- 
cially boys who had begun to imagine themselves young gen- 
tlemen, was dangerous. Indeed, I fancy that the golden age 
of this ideal little republic has already passed, and that a 
period of over-refinement and enervating luxury is likely, if 
it has not done so with the close of the last summer, to end 
its career. It was known that I was to visit it in the fall 



154 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

again and perhaps write a brief sketch of it ; it was decked 
out to be photographed ; the young lady with her aesthetic 
paint brush had introduced new ideals, for paint decorates 
bad woodwork ; the " sand pile," being near the roadside, at- 
tracted more and more notice. The carpenter took to making 
miniature saws, sawhorses, squares, screw-drivers, planes, vices, 
and other tools, copying his own tools for beauty more than 
for use ; and, in short, a gradual self -consciousness supervened, 
so that the boys came to have in mind the applause of adult 
spectators as well as their own pure interest. They have long 
been wont to call themselves, in some relations to their wooden 
figures, the giants — somewhat as their parents, in a sense, 
represent the blind fate that rules Jove himself, when they 
have occasion, as is most rare, to interfere. I thought that I 
observed that the giants were more high-handed, and prone 
to intervene in the natural working out of problems and 
events, as a miracle-working Providence is sometimes said to 
break in on the order of nature. There seemed to be a slowly 
decreasing autonomy, heralding the decline of full-blooded 
boyishness and the far-away dawn of a new and reconstructed 
adolescent consciousness. 

Still, when the inevitable return to Cambridge and school 
comes at last, the boys, it is said, seem for some time to 
be left with less eager interest in events, and to be some 
time in getting up as strong a zest for anything else. It is 
not that they become indifferent or pessimistic in the least 
degree, yet possibly life seems a little cheap and servile. 
They tried to colonize the "sand pile" there, but Cambridge 
is too large to oversee and copy, and they were soon lost in 
trying to light their houses at night from within, and in con- 
structing a system of drainage and sewerage, etc., and gave 
it up to spend playtime in the less-absorbing ways of follow- 
ing and imitating the college ball games, and making houses, 
horses, and new inventions for next summer's "sand pile." 



THE STORY OF A SAND PILE 



155 



On the whole, the " sand pile " has, in the opinion of the 
parents, been of about as much yearly educational value to 
the boys as the eight months of school. Very many problems 
that puzzle older brains have been met in simpler terms and 
solved wisely and well. The spirit and habit of active and 
even prying observation has been greatly quickened. Indus- 
trial processes, institutions, and methods of administration 
and organization have been appropriated and put into practice. 
The boys have grown more companionable and rational, learned 
many a lesson of self-control, and developed a spirit of self- 
help. The parents have been enabled to control indirectly the 
associations of their boys, and, in a very mixed boy commu- 
nity, to have them in a measure under observation without in 
the least restricting their freedom. The habit of loafing, and 
the evils that attend it, has been avoided, a strong practical 
and even industrial bent has been given to their development, 
and much social morality has been taught in the often com- 
plicated manner of living with others that has been evolved. 
Finally, this may perhaps be called one illustration of the 
education according to nature we so often hear and speak of. 
Each element in this vast variety of interests is an organic 
part of a comprehensive whole, compared with which the 
concentrative methodic unities of Ziller seem artificial, and, 
as Bacon said of scholastic methods, very inadequate to sub- 
tility of nature. All the power of motive arising from a large 
surface of interest is here turned on to the smallest part. 
Had the elements of all the subjects involved in the "sand 
pile" — industrial, administrative, moral, geographical, mathe- 
matical, etc. — been taught separately and as mere school 
exercises, the result would have been worry, waste, and chaos. 
Here is perfect mental sanity and unity, but with more variety 
than in the most heterogeneous and soul-disintegrating school 
curriculum. The unity of all the diverse interests and activi- 
ties of the " sand pile " is, as it always is, ideal. There is 



156 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

nothing so practical in education as the ideal, nor so ideal as 
the practical. This means not less that brain work and hand 
work should go together than that the general and special 
must help each other in order to produce the best results. As 
boys are quickened by the imagination to realize their con- 
ceptions of adult life, so men are best stimulated to greatest 
efforts by striving to realize the highest human ideals, whether 
these are actualized in the lives of the best men, found in the 
best pages of history, or are the highest legitimate, though 
yet unrealized, ideals of tradition and the future. 

G. Stanley Hall 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Baldwin, James M. Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental 
Development. Macmillan, New York and London, 1897. 574 pages. 

Bradley, John E. " Relation of Play to Character," Education^ 
Vol. XIX, pp. 406-413, 1898-1899. 

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The One I knew Best of All. Charles 
Scribner's Sons, New York, 1893. 325 pages. 

Croswell, Thomas R. " Amusements of Worcester School Children," 
Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. VI, pp. 314-371, September, 1899. 

Howells, William D. A Boy's Town. Harper & Brothers, New York, 
1890. 247 pages. 

Johnson, George E. " Education by Plays and Games," Pedagogical 
Seminary, Vol. Ill, pp. 97-133, October, 1894. 

Johnson, John. Rudimentary Society among Boys, Johns Hopkins 
University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Vol. 1 1, pp. 495- 
496, Baltimore, 1884. 

Sheldon, Henry D. "The Institutional Activities of American Chil- 
dren," American Journal of Psychology, Vol. IX, pp. 425-448, July, 
1898. 

Stuart, Mrs. Ruth McEnery. Sonny : A Christmas Guest. The Cen- 
tury Co., New York, 1898. 135 pages. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 

Dolls have so long been one of the chief toys of children, 
and are now so nearly universal among both savage and civi- 
lized peoples, that it is singular that no serious attempt has 
ever been made to study them. The topic of this paper is not 
only relatively new, but the field it opens is one of vast com- 
plexity, many-sided interest, and of the greatest significance 
both for psychology and pedagogy. When a thoughtful mother 
asks what is the best form, size, material, amount of elaborate- 
ness or mechanical devices, dress, paraphernalia, degree of 
abandon in doll play, proper and improper imitations of human 
life, whether doll play is instinctive with and good for boys 
as well as girls, or for any generalizations concerning dolls' 
names, doll families, dolls' diseases, the age at which the doll 
instinct is strongest, when it legitimately declines, whether 
paper dolls precede, follow, or coexist with dolls of three 
dimensions, doll anatomy, doll psychology, the real source of 
the many instincts that are expressed in doll play, its form 
among savage races, whether it is related to idolatry, and if 
so, how, — for answer to nearly all these problems one would 
search the meager and fragmentary doll literature in vain. 
Indeed, this paper, imperfect as it is, is the first to call atten- 
tion to the importance of a strangely neglected, new, but 
exceedingly rich psychogenetic field. 

It was considerations like these that led one of us (G. S. H.), 
after a careful preliminary survey based on informal examina- 
tions of many children of different ages, in which he was 
greatly aided by Miss Sara E. Wiltse, to print and circulate 

1 Reprinted in abridged form from Pedagogical Seminary , Vol. IV, pp. 129- 
175, December, 1896. 

157 



158 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

among about eight hundred teachers and parents a question- 
naire which brought the following returns : Miss Lillie 
Williams, State Normal School, New Jersey, 203 papers ; 
St. George's High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, 6"] ; Miss 
Jennie B. Merrill, New York City, 53 ; N. Y., 105 ; Miss S. 
E. Wiltse, 26; Miss Mary White, 18; and 176 from mis- 
cellaneous sources, making in all 648. These returns were 
of very varied degrees of merit. Some were long letters of 
reminiscence by adults, some were observations by mothers, 
and others were of the doll history of individual children. 
There were also school compositions by pupils of high and 
normal schools ; 94 boys were reported on, the rest were 
girls ; 96 were reminiscences, and the majority were written 
by females between fourteen and twenty-four. Altogether 
this constituted a stack of thousands of pages of manuscript. 
After a considerable time spent by both of us in a preliminary 
survey of this material, it was decided that, intractable, and 
lacking in uniformity as it was, it merited as careful a 
statistical treatment as could be given it, and this laborious 
task was finally undertaken by one of us (A. C. E.), who also 
conducted quite a voluminous correspondence, gathered the 
literary references with careful epitomes thereof, selected and 
condensed typical cases from the returns, preserving every 
salient phrase and incident, and issued a supplementary 
syllabus to get better statistical results. 

These latter returns were given to Dr. Hall, under whose 
supervision they were tabulated, and to whom Mr. Ellis's 
tables, correspondence, digests, conclusions, suggestions, and 
everything else were turned over, and who must therefore 
bear the responsibility of the attempt herewith made to 
present such account of all these varied data as he is able 
to do under limitations of both time and space, which are 
such as leave much to be desired. He has also freely added 
inferences, data, etc. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 59 

Material of which Dolls are made, Substitutes, 
AND Proxies 

Of 845 children, with 989 preferences, between the ages 
of three and twelve, 191 preferred wax dolls; 163, paper 
dolls ; 153, china dolls; 144, rag dolls; 116, bisque dolls; 83, 
china and cloth dolls; 69, rubber dolls; 12, china and kid 
dolls; II, pasteboard dolls; 7, plaster of Paris dolls; 6, wood 
dolls; 3, knit dolls; while a few each preferred papier-mache, 
clay, glass, cotton, tin, celluloid, French, Japanese, brownie, 
Chinese, sailor, negro, Eskimo dolls, etc. Many children gave 
several as equally desirable, or their preferences changed and 
many preferred the substitute to the real doll. 

We have grouped as substitutes objects used and treated by 
children as if they were dolls. Such treatment always involves 
ascribing more or less psychic qualities to the object, and 
treating it as if it were an animate or sentient thing. Nothing 
illustrates the strength of the doll instinct and the vigor of the 
animistic fancy like the following list of doll substitutes. 
In answers to the first syllabus, pillows were treated as dolls 
by 39 children, who often tied strings around the middle of 
the pillow, using a shawl for the skirt ; sticks, sometimes 
dressed in flowers, leaves, and twisted grass were used by 
29 ; bottles, filled with different-colored water and called dif- 
ferent people, some with doll-head corks, by 24 ; cob or ear of 
corn (red ears favored, corn silk for the hair, a daisy perhaps 
serving for a hat) by 19; dogs by 18 ; cats and kittens by 
15 ; shawls by 14 ; flowers by 12 ; clothespins (one a sailor, one 
a woman, sometimes both, used as servants) by 1 1 ; blocks 
by 9 ; children by 7 ; pieces of cloth by 7 ; daisies (taking off 
all but two petals, marking eyes, and making grass mothers) 
by 6 ; newspapers by 6 ; stuffed elephants (seemed like a real 
baby) by 6 ; clothes pegs by 5 ; peanuts by 5 ; sticks of wood 
by 5 ; apples by 4 ; clay pipes by 4 ; kindergarten material 



l6o CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

by 4 ; handkerchiefs by 4 ; mud and clay by 4 ; chairs and 
stools by 3 ; buttons by 3 ; potatoes (one end the head, with 
eyes, matches used for arms and legs) by 3 ; wishbones by 
3 ; nine-pins by 3 ; squashes by 3 ; toothpicks by 3 ; vege- 
tables by 3; yarn strings by 3. The following are each men- 
tioned twice as having been used as dolls : acorns, aprons, 
bootjacks, feathers, doughnuts, cucumbers, spools, shells, 
pumpkins (dressed in own clothes), towels (knotted in the 
middle), rubber balls, brooms (dressed in bolster case), nails, 
bedposts, sticks of candy (dressed), button hooks, keys, and 
umbrellas. 

The following are each mentioned once as doll substitutes : 
box, jug, coat, orange peel, cribbage peg, chicken, whisk 
broom, board with face painted on it, croquet ball, dish top, 
finger of a person dressed as doll, hand dressed as doll, with 
thumb and finger wrapped up for arms, water bottle, celery, 
one corner of a blanket (the other was mother), log, shoe, 
curtain tassel, roll of batting, bundle from the store, turkey 
wing named Dinah, washboard (two legs, so much like a man), 
wooden spoon, weed, piece of lath, salt bag stuffed, fish, 
piece of Porterhouse steak, sweet potato, stuffed stocking, 
stuffed cat, hitching post (so dressed up as to scare horses), 
stick of stove wood, tongs, toy monkey, radish, scissors in a 
spool, sheet, shoulder blanket, stone block, spoon, petunia 
(stem pushed through for head and neck), pin, pronged stick 
(looked like arms and legs), linen book rolled up and marked, 
knife, fork and spoon (called servants), knitting needles, lead 
pencil, half-burned matches (black for hair), marbles, oranges, 
penholder, beets, grapes (pulps for heads, splints for arms 
and legs, set sailing in cucumber boats), geraniums, green 
peaches (with pins for arms and legs), gateposts (by a party 
of children), gourds, hickory nuts, hollyhocks, horse-chest- 
nuts (pin for arms and legs), cuffs rolled up, dress folded, 
fuchsia, feather, forks, glass, corn husks, beans, berries, cradle 
quilt, carrot, crochet hook, hairbrush, cane, cricket, clamp. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS l6l 

carpenter's plane, axle of toy cart, a bench, books, balls, and 
bric-a-brac. 

In reply to the supplementary questions, out of 579 chil- 
dren 57 had used a cat as a doll ; 41, clothespins ; 26, sticks ; 
21, vegetables ; 20, a pillow. Only 26 of all these were boys. 
As an instance of flower dolls one correspondent writes : 

I often took pansies for dolls because of their human faces ; the rose 
I revered too much to play with, it was like my best wax doll, dressed in 
her prettiest, but always sitting in state in a big chair in some secluded 
corner where little visitors would not spy her out. I loved these nature 
dolls far better than the prettiest store dolls and ascribed special psychic 
qualities to them. The hepaticas seemed delicate children to be tenderly 
cared for but which soon drooped and faded. Violets were sturdy little 
ones which enjoyed a frolic and could be played with. The pansy was a 
willing, quick, bright flower child, the rose her grown-up sister, pretty, 
always charmingly dressed, but a quiet and sedate spectator. Violets were 
shy, good-natured children, but their pansy cousins were often naughty 
and would not play. The hepaticas were invalids and cripples who 
watched their livelier brothers and sisters and were entertained by stiff 
maiden aunts, marigolds, with long curls. The dahlias were colored serv- 
ants and mammies ; yellow violets were mischievous, fun-loving boys ; 
sweet peas were the nurses with cap and kerchief on ; the morning-glories 
were governesses and teachers. I often made little boats to give my 
flower dolls rides on the river. We built harbors, but in rough weather 
so many lives were lost that our pleasure was marred. 

A kindergarten teacher writes : 

Nothing interests the little girls so much as to take a sphere, cylinder, 
or cube, wrapping it in a handkerchief to have " a baby," putting it into 
the long box of the second gift for the cradle ; the boys often share 
this play. 

A girl of three lavished her affection on a rude wooden 
footstool. It was set on end, its legs were arms and feet, 
and it was dressed, named " Stooly," nursed when sick, taken 
to bed and table, taught to read and write, fed, and various 
parts of the body imagined. A scratch on the joint was a 
sore. A child of two did the same with an old red slipper ; 
another with a bottle with cork head, eyes, necklace; another 



1 62 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

with a bit of Parian marble ; another with a covered brick, 
till her mother fancied living things grew uninteresting. My 
own boy had a long-continued craze for a big stuffed elephant 
and for a stove hook.^ 

Mud dolls are sometimes sick at first, but when dry are 
well. A shawl doll had no heart, so a ball was put in its folds 
so it could Hve and love. 

Colored dolls sometimes need no clothing, " because they 
are so black nobody can see." A colored doll may be specially 
liked because others hate it, but fair hair and blue eyes are 
the favorites. When detected in " dollifying" very intractable 
objects children of ten show signs of self -consciousness and even 
shame. Besides the good and bad looks, dress, etc., of dolls, 
there are other influences that mediate likes and dislikes that 
we are not yet able to explain. A bottle resembled its giver 
and so took his name. Complimentary or uncomplimentary 
remarks of others often have much to do, but dispraise seems 
almost as apt to increase love as to diminish it. Real or fancied 
resemblance to people liked or disliked is a factor, and so is 
the feeling for the person who gave the doll, but why some 
dolls get all the whippings and others all the favors it is often 
very hard to ascertain. 

The rudest doll has the great advantage of stimulating the 
imagination by giving it more to do than does the elaborately 
finished doll. It can also enter more fully into the child's life, 
because it can be played with more freely without danger of 
being soiled or injured. With rude dolls, too, the danger of 
both hypertrophy and of too great prolongation of the doll 
instinct is diminished. As between large and small dolls it 
would appear that dolls of from four to twelve inches are more 
common, and that interest in very large and very small dolls is 
later and less normal. It is opposed to large, elegant French 
dolls which teach love of dress and suggest luxury and dolls 

^ "Notes on the Study of Infants," Pedagogical Seminaty, Vol. I, pp. 135- 
136, June, 1891. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 163 

with too many mechanical devices, as for winking, walking, 
speaking, and singing, against which the Russian Toy Con- 
gress has so strongly protested. Rather small and durable 
dolls, soft enough not to hurt, flexible, with two or three 
colors and not more than two or three plain garments, along 
with plenty of hints regarding clothespins, flowers, and other 
varied material, — something like this seems to be the sug- 
gestion for a first doll, with increasing variation in size, mate- 
rial, elaborateness, and number^jtilL the doll passion vanishes 
in two dimensions, with innumerable paper dolls, towards 
adolescence. 

Dolls are often said to grow, more commonly large, but often 
when the owner is growing fast the doll grows small. A doll 
that squeaks is said to talk ; a coat of paint is a dress ; pictures 
of dolls sometimes take the place of dolls themselves ; new 
babies are sometimes treated as, and even thought to be, dolls ; 
children who have no proxies are few, and those who never 
played with dolls exceedingly rare. For dolls' hair, hemp 
ravelings, wool, split grass, corn silk, bits of fur, shavings, 
one's own hair, feathers, hair painted on, are used, and combing 
and dressing dolls' hair is a favorite occupation. Toilet acces- 
sories for this purpose are infrequent. Eyes are often made of 
buttons, seeds, pins ; rings are painted or inked on ; the brow 
is less cared for, but eyes that open and shut are greatly desired. 
Although the first feature to appear, young children care far 
less for eyes than for the softness and flexibility that appeals 
to touch. Open eyes are sometimes covered with bits of paper 
when the doll sleeps, or " to make it dark." The oldest child 
often cares less for dolls, or is interested in them later than the 
younger children. Dolls may lose the head, limbs, or body, 
and if they are replaced, generally, though not always, retain 
their identity. The first doll is sometimes remembered with 
peculiar interest. The function of joints suggests several inter- 
esting psychological problems regarding movement, will, 



1 64 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

expression, etc. A doll that can be taken everywhere as 
well as treated every way is a sure favorite. Cut-out pictures 
of the most varied things play an important role. Interest in 
school and books has an important influence on the doll pas- 
sion, often eliminating it. Almost every conceivable whim and 
freak is illustrated here. Dolls that can be washed all over 
are often favorites. 

Children are often under a long-continued delusion con- 
cerning the material of which dolls are made. Even long after 
it is knozvn that they are wood, wax, etc., it vs, felt that they 
are of skin, flesh, etc. To find a doll's head hollow or that it is 
sawdust, while it suggests to very young children the same as 
contents of their own body, is with older children a frequent 
source of disenchantment and sometimes marks the sudden 
end of the doll period. In some cases allowances for the 
doll's moral or physical disabilities are made on account of 
the material of which they are found to consist. Wooden dolls 
will not bend ; so are obstinate. Babies are differentiated as 
" meat dolls," but the differences of temperature are noted 
with strange rarity. It is singular how slow and late children 
learn what the " hard things " under their own skin (bones) 
are, and how easily, after a trifling injury, they think the 
body a bag of blood, or somehow get the impression that 
they are blown up and grow by inflation, or are themselves 
full of sawdust or of stomach, which fills even arms and legs. 
Discussions with skeptical brothers, who assert that the doll 
is nothing but wood, rubber, wax, etc., are often met with a 
resentment as keen as that vented upon missionaries who 
declare that idols are but stocks and stones, or, to come near 
home, upon those who assert cerebral, automatic, or necessi- 
tarian theories of the soul. 

In our returns curly hair is preferred to straight ; red cheeks 
are a special point of beauty, as are red knees in fewer cases. 
Boy dolls are only about one twelfth of all, and it is remarkable 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 65 

how few dolls are babies rather than little adults. Children 
are very prone to focus their interest upon peculiar slippers, 
shoes, the upward or downward look of the eyes, some pecu- 
liar turn and carriage of the head, some cute expression, 
"like a clown," "funny as if it was going to cry or shout," 
"stuck up," "smiling," "sweet," "tanned," etc. Some 
particular dress, name, complexion, or even defect is often 
focused on. Aversions follow the same rule. 

Of 579 answers to questions 13, 14, and 15 of the supple- 
mentary paper, 463 reported for the age below five as follows : 
266 preferred babies; 126, children; 71, adults. From five 
to ten, 314 reported, of whom 105 preferred babies; 159, 
children ; 50, adult dolls. From ten to fifteen years of age, 
45 reported a preference for babies; 64, for children; 32, 
for adults. On the whole, babies were thus preferred 416 
times and children and adults 502 times. Children lead babies 
after the age of five, the ratio of adult dolls increasing with 
age. Boys' dolls are least often infants. Among 45 feeble- 
minded girls the ratio of dolls as babies is highest. 

Out of 579 answers to the second questionnaire, 88 men- 
tioned preference for blue eyes ; 27, for brown eyes ; and 8, 
for black eyes. As to hair preferences 1 18 mention light hair ; 
62, curly hair; 27, dark hair; 8, real hair; and 5, red hair; 
while 1 5 mention love for red cheeks ; 7, nice teeth ; 8, pretty 
hands or feet ; 3, red lips. 

Some children have a strong preference for old dolls, how- 
ever ugly, and are indifferent to new ones, however fine ; 
some love and some hate heirloom dolls. Some have sudden 
changes of affection ; an old doll that has been long loved is 
perhaps suddenly repelled, thrown or given away, or even 
burned, and a new favorite chosen. Some never like lady or 
Japanese dolls, but their affection has a very limited range. 
Children with many dolls often have one for Sunday or one is 
queen, mother, or teacher; some profess to be absolutely 



1 66 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

impartial, loving all their dolls exactly alike. Often a sudden 
craze for doll dressmaking, hair combing, fantastic buttons, 
very small or very large dolls, shoes, hats, movable eyes, is 
reported, suggesting something akin to Kraft-Ebing's fetichism 
on the one hand, and the strange focusing on single features 
of face or dress seen in children's drawings on the other, 
and indicating how psychic growth tends to focalize, now in 
this, now in that direction. This we consider a point of great 
importance and suggestiveness for school work when fully 
wrought out. Mind may have its nascent periods like the 
body. Now interest centers on hair, which must be in long 
braids or otherwise done up, or be worn short, parted side- 
ways, banged. Now it is a fat, round, baby face, plump red 
cheeks, teeth, pretty neck, joints, that are doted on. So it is 
with articles of dress, etc. 

Psychic Qualities 

The following psychic qualities are ascribed to dolls in the 
order of frequency of their recurrence, the figures indicating 
the number of cases: good 97, cold 54, jealous 46, bad 45, 
angry 38, naughty 36, loving 35 (bad and naughty together, 
equahng 81, should thus really be second in order), tired 33, 
pain 27, crying 18, feels 16, clean 15, feels warm 12, sleepy 
12, tidy 12, cross 10, hungry 8, quiet 6, proud 6, sorrowing 6, 
mischievous 6, feeling hurt 6, stupid 6, modest 4, lonesome 4, 
kind 4, desiring something 4, dirty 4, patient 4, taste 4, seeing 
3, talkative 3, obedient 3, smell 2, truthful 2, thoughtful 2, 
sly 2, stubborn 2, " sassy " 2. The following psychic qualities, 
as indicated by the following expressions, were fully brought 
out in individual cases : comfortable, contented, cleanly, 
blushing, honest, gentle, frightened, ill at ease, ladylike, 
makes faces, sings, scolds, sneers, is full of life, troublesome, 
too thoughtful, pure, proper, moral, lying, well educated, 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 67 

religious, prone to run away, democrat, Presbyterian, rich. 
Baptist, idiotic. 

Of the 579 answers to the supplementary syllabus, question 
26 foots up as follows : 230 children thought their dolls good ; 
202 thought they felt cold; 185, that they could love; 183, 
that they felt tired ; 161, that they could be hungry ; 135, that 
they were sometimes bad ; 'j'j, that they were jealous ; 58, that 
they hated. The smallest proportion of girls ascribing these 
qualities to dolls were over thirteen, and next least come the 
feeble-minded children. 

Although these sixty-five terms can hardly be designated as 
so many qualities, they, too, open a rich field for psychology. 
Interesting essays are waiting to be written on such topics as 
modesty for dolls, what constitutes their goodness and badness, 
its relation to good and bad looks, being good and bad all the 
time and alternating, doll penalties, their sense of fatigue, their 
power to sit still, their stupidity and obstinacy, their propensity 
to sleep or be wakeful, their affection, etc. Out of 45 children 
specially cross-questioned, aged six to eight, 8 boys and 22 
girls thought dolls felt cold, i boy and 13 girls thought not. 
Out of 34 children of the same age 4 boys and 18 girls 
thought dolls felt tired, 2 boys and 10 girls thought not. Out 
of 48 children of the same age, specially questioned, 3 boys 
and 8 girls thought dolls got angry, 6 boys and 25 girls said 
no, and 6 were in doubt. Of 45 children asked whether their 
dolls loved them, 10 boys and 29 girls thought yes, none no, 
6 did not know. Of 45 children questioned i boy and 2 
girls said dolls hated some one, 8 boys and 24 girls thought 
not, 2 boys and 8 girls were in doubt. Psychic qualities are 
often suggested by looks, dress, or fancied resemblance to 
some one thought to have good or bad qualities, while colored 
dolls, brownies, German, Chinese, and other dolls are often 
fancied, especially by boys, because they are "funny" or 
exceptional. 



1 68 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Almost all doll play involves the assumption of psychic 
qualities, but a few illustrations are added : 

F., 1 8. I went to dolls with all my childish trials and felt relieved when 
I had poured out my heart to them. 

F., i6. I supposed they were real children and would talk to them and 
laugh. 

F., 1 5. Her name is a real person's name, and she is just as real to me 
as a real baby. 

F., 16. I thought my dolls had the same feelings as persons. 

F., 17. How would you like to be thrown down like that? 

F., 7. Dolly was very angry when I would n't let her go to see the 
other children. I knew that my dolls had vitality and mind. My baby 
doll gives me no rest day or night ; she is better if I take her out. 

F., II. When I found dolly laying out on the ground I thought I 
could see tears in her eyes, she was so hungry and cold. 

F., 14. Two of my dolls had their heads broken otf, but this made no 
difference in my treatment, for they seemed endowed with life and feel- 
ing. One day we were invited to a party, and I would not let Rose 
(dolly) go, because she had been naughty, but she cried so, and said she 
would be good, that I let her go. 

F., 12. Dolly had been naughty, and instead of taking her out to ride 
I made her sit in a chair all day. 

F., II. [A fifth-grade girl would kiss and "poor" her doll after 
spanking her, but once, after a specially severe punishment, was filled 
with remorse for days.] I talked to my doll as if it could hear, and 
thought it could. 

F., 12. Cut off her Japanese doll's hair, so she could never go back to 
Japan. 

F., 6. Cut her doll's hair, thinking it would grow again. 

F., 12. Said to her dolly, "There, I have fixed baby's hair and she 
did n't cry. Can't you be as good } " 

M., 7. Screamed, saying, " Mother, mend the doll's leg," thinking such 
surgery painful. 

F., 13. Would put molasses on doll's mouth, and then punish her for 
stealing it. 

F., 13. Knocked Chinese doll against a window for crying and 
broke it. 

F., 9. Sings dolly to sleep with her favorite songs. 

F., 12. I thought all my other dolls jealous of the finest one. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 169 

F., 4. Dolls are good or bad as she is. If corrected for bad language, 
her dolls use it. 

F., II. Said, "Dolly was never on the cars to enjoy it before, but 
always went in the trunk. 

F., 3. Her dolly often wants to go to the water closet, and is tenderly 
put on the stool by her little mother. 

F., 6. Has great fears her dolls will feel lonesome. 

F., 4. Now, dolly, I would like to give you a bath, but I must go up 
and see that other baby bathed, — the real one, you know. 

F., 4. Will my dolly ever grow up to be a lady doll ? 



Doll's Food and Feeding 

In our returns 90 children fed their dolls with both liquid 
and solid food ; 75 sat at the doll's table ; 68 touched food to 
the doll's lips and then ate it themselves (some speak of chew- 
ing it for the doll), or put it in doll's hand to make believe she 
ate it; 45 give it milk (16 of whom imagined water to be 
milk, and then played nurse the doll in natural way) ; 36 dis- 
tinctly imagined the food ; 33 set the dolls at table with them- 
selves ; 3 1 imagined or pretended growth, 8 of whom were 
positive the doll grew, thinking dresses grew short, or pulled 
doll's legs and found her to measure more ; 29 say they never 
fed dolls or that they couldn't eat ; 23 touched food to doll's 
lips, then threw it away, or put it in doll's mouth and took it out 
again ; 19 distinctly imagined hunger ; 19 declared that dolls 
preferred certain kinds of food to others ; 1 5 were strenuous in 
urging real hunger ; 2 said the dolls looked hungry ; 9 thought 
them hungry when they were so themselves ; 1 3 poked food 
inside the dolls' heads, where sometimes it accumulated and 
spoiled ; i broke doll's tooth trying to get food in ; i broke a 
hole to do so ; 12 really put liquid into the doll ; i had a rubber 
ball in the back of the doll's head to squirt it out ; 13 reported 
spells of great regularity in feeding ; 11, constant regularity ; 
9 used only liquid food ; 7, only solid ; 6 imagined they ate 



I70 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

without any agency of the child ; 7 used empty plates and 
imagined the food ; 6 thought some foods especially disagreed 
with dolls ; 1 1 seemed to think dolls really starved if not fed ; 
6 gave foods according to the age ; 3 put the food down the 
neck of the doll's dress ; 4 poured liquid food on the front 
of the dress ; 8 always gave the dolls the same food as they 
had ; i saw a healthy look in her doll from having slept and 
eaten well. 

The following foods are also mentioned mostly by children 
between the ages of five and eleven : milk 88 times, bread 75 
times, cake 62 times, water 45, candy 33, crackers 27, potatoes 
19, tea 1 8 , meat 1 5 , sugar 1 3 , pie 1 3 , fruit 1 3 , apples 1 2 , butter 
9, ice cream 8, cookies 7, all kinds of food 7, mud pies 6, 
coffee 5, sweetened water 5, dirt 3, gingerbread 3, grapes 3, 
nuts 3, strawberries 3, biscuit 3, apple juice 2, puddings 4, 
oranges 4, salt 4. The following were mentioned by two chil- 
dren : apple sauce, chicken, chalk and water, flour and water, 
gravy, cheese, chocolate, eggs, flowers, fish, mustard, lemon- 
ade, leaves, jelly, sand (for food, for flour, for sugar), soup, 
sweets. The following were mentioned once each : canned 
corn, blacking, beefsteak, buttons, brown paper, brick dust 
and water, boards in thin slices, beans, acorns, cocoanut, 
custard, cocoa, cinnamon water, crumbs, cream, flour, grass, 
green fruit, grasshopper (used as roast turkey), jumbles, lime, 
mush, mucilage and water, orange juice for soup, pears, 
pickles, pancakes, peaches, pictures of food (for paper dolls), 
rice, roast beef, starch and water for milk, also sticks, stones, 
sawdust, seed (in bottles for canned corn), soft food, soap- 
suds, vegetables. 

Some children put food on the floor near the doll, others 
think it tries to eat or move the hand toward the food, forgets 
to eat, prefers cup, bottle, spoon, plate, glass, or to eat with 
fingers. Some are fed only when children play house, or Sun- 
day mornings, or on coming home from school, or Saturdays, 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 171 

or going to bed, or between meals, or once a day. Out of 49, 
19 say positively that dolls are never hungry, 14 are posi- 
tive they are, 16 are in doubt, some think they are hungry 
all the time, others not often, or sometimes, or may be, or 
guess so. Out of other 49, 18 think dolls will not starve if 
not fed, 17 think they will starve if not fed, the others are 
divided. 

F., 50. My dolls always went with me to the country, because they 
could not get out of the doll house to buy food. 

F., 26. I fed one doll regularly until I found she would not grow, 
then only when I happened to think. 

F., 6. Gives dolls flowers to smell for dessert. 

F., 10. Once dolly got hungry and asked me for food. I fed liquids 
on a bib, thinking babies soaked it up that way. 

F., 49. I put food on doll's mouth till it was dry, and thought the 
doll sucked out the juice. 

F., 6. Uses doll biscuits, offering them first to the doll, then eating 
them herself. 

F., 4. When her doll's head was knocked off, cried till uncle said he 
would fill it with meal before fastening it on ; then thought she would 
get enough to eat and be well. 

F., 14. Squeezed everything she could into a small mouth opening, 
fixed so it came out at the back. 

F., 21. I used to worry lest I should not feed my doll and it would 
starve. 

F., 4. Punished her doll by making it eat dirt, stones, coal, etc. 

Dolls are weighed, and a few days later shot and stones are 
sewed in their clothes so they will weigh more. Children say 
of foods they especially like or dislike, that it is good or bad for 
their dolls. They often have recipes, as " flour, salt, sugar, 
milk, baked till brown." Sometimes the table ceremonies are 
elaborate, including grace, comments on food, courses, etc. 
At Thanksgiving dinners blocks are (play) boiled for turkey, 
round things for pies, and cakes and the rest pictures. When 
the food is not wholly imaginary, crackers may serve for every 



172 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



solid, and water for all drinks. Toy cook stoves are a great 
boon to children during the brewing and cooking age. If chil- 
dren eat too much or prefer the wrong kinds of food, dolls are 
accused of doing the same thing. They are counseled not to 
eat too fast, nor to be greedy, nor to slobber. If dolls are sick 
they must be fed accordingly. With some children the fire, 
stove, wood, dishes, and food are entirely imaginary ; but 
more commonly something is imagined to be something else 
which it more or less resembles. Leaves and chips are plates, 
sticks are for spoons, bits of broken crockery are whole 
dishes, pieces of paper, petals of flowers, even figures on the 
carpet are dishes, so are shells and flat stones, acorns are 
cups and saucers, clothespins are sugar tongs, and napkins 
and every kind of table furniture is parodied. Soapsuds is 
ice cream, mud is chocolate cake, brick dust and water is tea, 
salt is imagined to be sugar, and sugar salt. Many kinds of 
seeds, buds, etc., are used. A barnyard weed has a tiny pod 
called cheese. Flag root and pods, birch bark, nuts, the 
honeyed ends of clover, honeysuckle, and other blossoms, 
green fruit, peppergrass, and many other things are used as 
dolls' food, and sometimes children are injured by eating what 
only their imagination makes wholesome. 

Sleep 

329 papers speak of dolls' sleep. Most of these children are 
between six and eleven. 90 mentioned keeping others quiet 
while the dolls slept, ^6 rocked the doll in their arms and sang 
to put it to sleep, and ^6 put it in bed and did so, 5 5 rocked 
it to sleep without song, 37 used cradle and song, 33 took doll 
to bed with them, 12 expressly insisted that the doll really 
slept, 7 never put dolls to sleep, 3 shut the eyes of mechanical 
dolls only and called that sleep, 5 said that it made no differ- 
ence to dolls whether there was quiet or not, 10 had dolls 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 173 

say prayers, 2 said only dolls which closed eyes could go to 
sleep, I covered the eyes with paper, 4 rolled the doll in baby 
wagon, 7 jumped or trotted it, several told a story, others 
rocked it in a hammock, had it in the dark, shut it in a trunk, 
or thought it slept mostly when they were not present. 52 lulla- 
bys are named, "Rock-a-bye, Baby," leading all the rest, being 
mentioned 29 times. Others more often mentioned are the 
following: "Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber," "Bye, 
Baby Bunting," quite original lullabys, " La, la, la," " By-lo," 
Mother Goose rhymes, " Sweet and Low." Others mention 
"The Bowery," sacred songs, kindergarten songs, " Hush- 
a-bye. Baby," " Wee Willie Winkie," " Shut your eye, do not 
cry," Moody and Sankey songs, with exceptional things like 
" Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," German songs, slumber 
songs, selections from Pinafore and other popular operas, 
" Comrades," and many others. 

F., 10. I rock dolly and sing, and if this does not succeed, I walk 
the floor with her. 

F., 10. Undressing and putting dolly to bed was the best play of all. 

F., 15. Nights I undressed my dolls, put on their night clothes, had 
them say their prayers, and when all were in bed would sing to them. 

M., 8. Hangs his doll on a chair papoose-wise to sleep nights. 



Sickness 

Dolls have many diseases. In our returns there were 63 
cases of measles, 47 of scarlet fever, 34 of colds, 33 of whoop- 
ing cough, 31 of diphtheria, 27 of members injured, 26 of 
headache, 23 of mumps, 22 of fever, 18 of chicken pox, 17 
of smallpox, 16 of sore throat, 15 of colic, 1 1 of croup, 1 1 of 
surgical operations, 9 of stomach ache, 9 of toothache, 9 of leg 
broken, 8 of grip, 7 of consumption, 4 of typhoid fever, 4 of 
leprosy, and 5 were beheaded. The following occurred from 
one to three times : bronchitis, biliousness, cramp, catarrh, 



174 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

chills, teething, sore eyes, earache, dysentery, jaundice, heart 
trouble, chafed limbs, pneumonia, rheumatism, dyspepsia, 
brain fever, spells of vomiting. 

The most common remedies are tapioca pills, water, sugar 
pills, poultices, plasters, quinine, paper pills, colored water, 
vinegar, menthol pencils, water and dirt, tea sirup, seltzer 
aperient, sweet oil, salt and water, sugar for powders, soap, 
peppermint, paregoric, potato and salt, castor oil, vaseline, 
cement, currant juice and water, camphor, candy, ice cream, 
bread pills, dirt powders, chalk and water, dissolved candy, 
hot bottles, mustard plaster, squills, laudanum, Hive sirup, 
castoria, drops, etc. 

To treat these diseases the doctor in 48 cases is a boy, in 
30, a playmate, sex not mentioned. In 25 cases the owner of 
the doll is the doctor, in 24 cases the doctor is imaginary, in 
20 cases he is another doll. Sometimes father, mother, or even 
the real doctor, if he happens to be present, is consulted. 

The remedy often aims to fit the disease. Fever may be put 
on with red paint and treated with Seidlitz powder or a drop 
of bismuth every half hour. A doll who lost her wig and had 
brain fever was bandaged and put to bed. Repairs are surgical 
operations and the repair shop is a hospital. In one case of 
toothache the face was broken in trying to pull the tooth. For 
dyspepsia burned rice was ground in a mortar. For sore eyes a 
veil was used. For sore throat flannel and salt gargle, pork 
rinds, red pepper, and ten minutes in bed. For stomach ache, 
after careful examination of the pulse, flannel, salt and water, 
tapioca pills, and darkness was the treatment. In smallpox, 
caused by spotting the waxed face of a doll, sugar and water 
cured. For measles, the head was bathed and tied up with 
imaginary brandy ; bread pills, a sweat, and hot water were 
given, which latter brought out the eruptions until the wax face 
was disfigured. For mumps the face is grotesquely muffled 
and tied up. Leprosy was suggested in the Sunday school 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 



175 



and by the paint flecking off. In the case of a broken leg 
an ambulance, ether, etc., were extemporized. Eye water is 
squeezed into the socket of a knocked-out eye. Ink and catnip 
tea are good for sleeplessness. Orange marmalade, licorice, 
etc., is for teething. For colic, dolls must be laid on their 
stomachs and given warm drinks and tucked up with extra 
wraps. The best thing, says a boy of thirteen, is a good dose 
of bad medicine. 

F., 10. My doll Liz had a headache, so I put on her "mikado" 
and read her some of Longfellow's Hiawatha, as she wanted me to. 

F., 10. My baby doll is always sick, and I have Dr. Sam, a very old 
doll, come and treat her. 

F., 8. Vaccinated all her dolls, putting in soap. 

F., 12. My baby doll has colic every night, croup, pain, and all 
sorts of diseases, but the large dolls are very healthy. 

F., 13. The paint came off my doll's face and she grew pale and sick. 

M., 7. Takes his doll to the seaside for her health. 

F., 12. Had 92 dolls; many were often sick; disease not always 
designated. 

F., 10. Puts her colicky dolls across her knee and they soon recover. 

F., 13. Rubbed red chalk on her doll's face to make a high fever 
seem more real. 

M., 6. Has dolls that sometimes have three or four diseases at once ; 
they must be rubbed, dosed, the room kept dark and quiet. 

F., 12. Used to give tooth powder for medicine, but stopped when told 
it would not digest. 

F., 13. I was once extremely anxious lest my doll baby should die, 
it was so sick. 



Death, Funeral, and Burial of Dolls 

Sometimes these are quite isolated from each other and from 
sickness, and sometimes all follow in due course. Of all the 
returns available under this rubric 90 children mentioned 
burial, their average age being nine ; 80 mentioned funerals, 
73 imagined their dolls dead, 30 dug up dolls after burial to 



176 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

see if they had gone to heaven, or simply to get them back. 
Of these 1 1 dug them up the same day. Only 9 speak of them 
as dying naturally of definite diseases ; 1 5 put them under 
sofa, in drawers, attics, or gave them away, calling this death ; 
30 express positive behef in future life of dolls ; 8 mentioned 
future life for them without revealing their own convictions ; 
3 buried dolls with pets and left them ; 3 said bad or dirty 
dolls went to the bad place ; 14, that they went to heaven ; 17 
children were especially fond of funerals. 12 dolls came to 
accidental death by bumps or fractures, i burst, i died of a 
melted face, 2 were drowned (i a paper doll), i died because 
her crying apparatus was broken, i doll murdered another, 
was tried, and hanged. Dolls of which children tire often die. 
30 children never imagined dolls dead. This parents often 
forbid. I boy killed his sister's doll with a toy cannon, 3 
resurrected dolls and gave them new names ; 5 out of 7 preach- 
ers at dolls' funerals were boys, i was the doctor; 3 doll 
undertakers are described. 22 cases report grief that seems 
to be very real and deep ; in 23 cases this seemed feigned. 
The mourning is sometimes real black and sometimes pre- 
tended. 19 put flowers on dolls' graves, i "all that week" ; 
28 expressly say that dolls have no souls, are not alive, and 
have no future life. In 2 1 cases there was death but no burial ; 
in 10, funerals but no burials ; in 8, funerals but no deaths. 

F., 14. My dolls never die nor marry ; they are babies. 

F., 14. My dolls never die unless they get broken. I never allow 
them to, it is too painful. 

F., 23. I never thought dolls dead till arms, legs, head were gone and 
often not then. 

F., 13. Doll smashed, not dead, just thrown away. 

F., 9. Doll broken, funeral just for fun. 

F., 8. One particular doll for funeral purposes. 

M., 10. Buries dolls' limbs, heads, etc., apart if they come loose. 

F., 9. Very rarely had my children die, but had them come to life 
right away as a different person. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 77 

F., 6. Was given a doll so lifelike that she feared it, believing it a dead 
baby. 

A teacher writes : " The true value of a good doll in molding a girl's 
character has not begun to be appreciated. I disapprove doll balls, 
theaters, marriages, and especially deaths and funerals." 

F., 9. Whittled dolls rudely from sticks, buried them, covered the 
grave with flowers, and in a few days dug them up as mummies. 

F., 16. It broke my heart when my doll broke her head, but I never 
thought of a funeral or future life. 

M., 6. Hates dolls, " for they are all girls ; they just keep their mouth 
shut and make believe children ; they never die because they don't keep 
their eyes always closed forever." 

F., II. Never played that dolls died lest she should die herself. 

Dolls' Names 

Of dolls' names, 199 were given by a friend, 87, because 
they were pretty, favorite, or fancy names ; 54, because of 
real or fancied likeness; 35, for a name in a story or some 
one heard of ; 33 were named from the giver ; 24 had no name 
save Dolly ; 2 1 gave new names often ; 20 were named from 
some peculiar look or quality in person ; 9 took the owner's 
name ; 6 were named from the time or place of receiving the 
doll ; 5, from a feigned likeness ; 4 had purely imaginary 
names ; 2 had very unusual names. In some cases ugly names 
are given to dolls disliked, and in two cases the material of 
which the doll is made is the name. 10 very formal christen- 
ings are spoken of. Sometimes every doll in a family receives 
the same name. Dolls with names frequently changed rarely 
develop distinct personalities. * 

Some cases are the following : named Rose because of rosy cheeks. 
Some children cannot remember the names of their dolls, they have 
so many. A very short name sometimes goes with a very small doll. 
One boy three years old named his doll Family. The earliest dolls are 
rarely named. Sometimes qualifying terms are used, like " Birthday 
Mary," " Chicago Jane." A dent on the cheek suggested Dotty Dim- 
ple. A Christmas doll was named " Merry Christmas." 



178 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

One doll was named Silk because always dressed in silk. Another 
named Jap because dressed like a Mikado. An invented name is Skidel, 
another Calambo. Some children hunt catalogues for new names. 
Some are named Lord, Lady, from vocations ; some from pet animals. 

F., Had all dolls' names end in ie. 

M., II (Bohemian). Named his doll My Friend. 

F., 12. Now thinks it silly to name dolls, although she still plays 
with them. 

F., 4. Gave a new name with every new dress. One doll was named 
Gingerbread, from the color of its stuffed-out head. 

Discipline 

In our returns are 41 distinct cases of punishment by being 
sent to bed, 34 spanked, 32 whipped, 25 scolded, 20 put in 
closet, 1 3 kept in, 1 2 shut up, 1 7 made to sit down, 1 1 shaken, 
7 slapped, 7 severely talked to, 5 deprived of food, 2 tied to a 
post, I made to stand up and sing, i sent home from school, i 
had Cayenne pepper put on its tongue, i was punched, i had 
its legs pulled, i had its face covered, i was fed on bread and 
water, i was thrown downstairs, i made to sit on the door 
knob, I had to go to bed in the dark, i was hanged with due 
ceremony. Rewards are in the following order of frequency : 
taking out to walk, visiting, sitting up late, going riding, being 
kissed, going without nap, going shopping, being told a story, 
taken to party, given candy, cake, clothes, ribbons. Rewards 
are often promised or punishments are often threatened, but 
not given. There seems little disposition to make the punish- 
ment fit the crime. The qualities rewarded are the following 
in order of frequency : goodness, truthfulness, obedience, neat- 
ness, kindness, good nature, quietness, sweet temper, patience. 
Traits or acts punished are being naughty, not sitting still, 
quarreling, talking, answering back, not learning lessons, fall- 
ing from chair, being "sassy," running away from baby doll, 
slapping baby doll, crying, being jealous, "won't stand," "won't 
sit proper," lying, being vain, angry, hitting or falling on small 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 79 

doll, being cross, upsetting things, stealing, flirting, saying " I 
won't," etc. 15 say they never discipline dolls, either because 
they are good, or too little, or they never thought of it. 

In the supplementary answers 108 children whip, 108 never 
punish, 80 put to bed, 75 spank, 39 slap, 35 stand in the corner, 
34 scold, 2 1 shake, 20 put in dark closet, 5 throw on floor. 4 
broke their dolls, and several hanged them, pulled their ears and 
hair, stood them on their heads, shut them in a box, threw them 
up and let them drop, left them out in the cold. The age when 
punishments are most frequent and severest is below eight ; 
thence onward they gradually decline in frequency. 

F., 10. Punishes paper dolls by tearing their legs off. 

F., 14. Punishes by keeping the dolls from the theater and rewards 
by letting them buy what they would. 

F., 6. Beats and almost breaks her doll because she " wets herself 
most every day." 

F., II. Thought vanity and anger the worst faults. 

F., 7. Whipped dolls for no reason but the pleasure of it. 
1 F., 8. Flogs severely for the slightest error. 

F., 5. When 4, whipped dolls, but at 8 loved them too much and 
reasoned with them when they were bad. 

F., 8. Always scolds before whipping. 

F., 6. Whips doll if not found where she thinks it was left. 

F., 8. Gave prizes for neatness, her favorite doll getting all. She 
adds : " I did realize it was my fault if they were untidy." 

Hygiene. Toilet 

Hygiene and toilet treatment is mentioned as follows : 
dressing, 1 8 times ; washing face, 1 2 ; taking out of doors to 
get the air, 1 1 ; general bath, 10 ; dressed regularly, 7 times ; 
hands washed, 7 times ; bathed every morning, 5 times ; hair 
combed, 6 times ; braided twice, brushed twice, went in bathing 
twice, teeth brushed twice, nails manicured twice. Occasional 
mention is made of gargling throat, cutting hair, pure air in 
sleeping, water closet, massage, keeping home from parties to 



i8o CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

avoid late hours, not letting them go with boys, heavy clothing 
in cold and light in warm weather, putting salve in dolls' ears 
as wax to be cleaned out, and dirtying nails to clean out, wear- 
ing wrappers in the morning, plain dresses in the afternoon, 
and silk in the evening. 



Dolls' Families, Schools, Parties, Weddings, etc. 

153 returns mention families; 44 describe parties, teas, 
receptions, etc.; 33, schools of various kinds; 18, theaters, 
concerts, tableaux; 26, weddings; 25, excursions or rides; in 
21 cases the child is the mother of her dolls; in 14 cases 
other dolls are the mothers; 14 played shopping; 14, visiting; 
12, war; 10 played families only with paper dolls; 10, hang- 
ing or execution. Churches are described 7 times ; Sunday 
schools, 6 times ; ceremonial baptisms, 5 times. There were 4 
dolls' swimming parties, in 4 cases all the dolls were cousins, 
in 2 cases the child was the grandmother and in 2 aunt of 
the dolls, 2 clubs, 2 plays of park with grand stand. Other 
social plays described fully once and often hinted at more times 
are fire company, slave selling, post office, country fair, sailing, 
prayer meeting, stepmother, imaginary mother. Till four, one 
boy was mother of his dolls and then father. 

F., 10. Called a big doll her child, a small doll her grandchild. One 
boy was mother, and the father was at sea. 

M., 7. I am the papa and the stuffed cat the mamma. 

F., 5. Crucified boy doll with tacks on a cigar box. 

F., 8. Kept doll boarding school. 

M., 7. Executed criminal doll with popgun. 

F., II. Has wedding with doll bridesmaids, ushers, father, mother, 
invitations, and many dolls to look on, and rice. 

F., 14. Thought giving presents between dolls was a great game. 

F., 12. Thought married dolls had children; she tucked them up 
under the clothes and pretended they were born the regular way. When 
they grew up one was Longfellow and the other Louisa Alcott. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS l8l 

M., 2. Heard of crucifixion and tried to nail dolly to a board. 

F., 8. Used to set her doll^ in the parlor and play exquisite music ; 
they applauded loudly and she bowed, although she did not know one 
note from another. 

F., 4. Plays school, with dolls in a row and standing over them 
with stick, saying, " Be good." 

Accessories 

Counting the doll accessories, we find that 1 79 children men- 
tion clothes in general ; 85 mention beds ; 66, sets of dishes ; 
59, tables ; 58, chairs ; 57, trunks ; 40, cradles ; 32, houses ; 30, 
bureaus ; 23, toys ; 23, furniture ; 23, carriages ; 22, brushes ; 
22, combs; 21, folding beds ; 20, hats ; 12, stoves; 10, shoes; 
10, stockings ; 10, bonnets ; 9, quilts ; 9, dolls' dolls ; 9, under- 
clothes ; 9, toilet sets; 8, pianos; 12, washstands ; 12, hand- 
kerchiefs ; 6, cloaks ; 6, chamber sets ; 6, cupboards ; 6, forks ; 
6, jewelry ; 6, knives ; 6, lounges ; 6, mirrors ; 6, mittens ; 6, 
nightgowns ; 6, picture books ; 6, rattles ; 6, sofas ; 6, water- 
proofs; 5, capes ; 5, aprons; 5, swings ; 5, spoons; 5, towels ; 
5, veils ; 4, caps ; 4, hairpins ; 4, newspapers ; 4, pictures ; 
4, soap ; 4, wash rags ; 4, books ; 4, carpets. The following 
are mentioned 3 times : bags, balls, bookcases, blankets, ear- 
rings, fans, flatirons, jackets, kitchen sets, muffs, mats, over- 
shoes, parasols, parlor sets, pencils, pewter dishes, money 
purses, rings, shawls, slippers, sheets. The following are 
mentioned twice : bath tubs, blocks, bracelets, coats for 
boys, cribs, chests of drawers, candlesticks, comforters, Christ- 
mas trees, back combs, desks, furs, foot-stools, hoods, horses, 
high chairs, jardinieres, kettles, nursing bottles, napkins, puff 
boxes, pillows, pincushions, sacks, sponges, sponge bags, 
tablecloths, tin kitchens, toothbrushes, toy dogs, toy cats, 
toy cows. 

In issuing his supplementary syllabus it was Mr. Ellis's inten- 
tion to have 100 boys and 100 girls from each grade to answer 



1 82 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

with a word each of his 29 questions. This would have given 
a more definite indication of the extent of doll plays, the doll 
age, effect of sex, etc. He also sought returns from idiots, 
blind children, children of foreign birth, etc., for comparative 
purposes. The returns, however, have been only 579 in 
all, and many of these fail to answer one or more questions. 
They have all been counted, and most of the results incorpo- 
rated in the preceding table ; and the rest, which could not 
be presented by this method, are inserted under their respec- 
tive entries. 

From tabulated results it appears that of average city school chil- 
dren below 6 years, 82 per cent, of boys and 98 per cent, of girls have 
played dolls ; between 6 and 12 years, 76 per cent, of boys, 99 per cent, 
of girls ; of high-school girls, 100 per cent. 

Those confessing that they have ever specially enjoyed doll play 
are : below 6 years, 77 per cent, of boys, 95 per cent, of girls ; between 
6 and 12 years, 78 per cent, of boys, 97 per cent, of girls; of high- 
school girls, 82 per cent. 

Those ever having used substitutes are : below 6 years, 15 per cent, 
of boys, 48 per cent, of girls ; between 6 and 12 years, 35 per cent, of 
boys, 68 per cent, of girls ; of high-school girls, 58 per cent. Thus girls 
appear to lead the boys in every grade. Nearly 50 per cent, of the 
girls and a little less of the boys, answering in all grades, said they 
loved the substitutes as much as real dolls. 

Paper dolls had been used by 73 per cent, of those below 6 years, by 
80 per cent, between 6 and 12 years and by 92 per cent, of high-school 
girls. Interest in other dolls was thought dulled by paper dolls by 34 
per cent, of boys and 26 per cent, of girls below 6 years, 35 per cent, 
of boys and 15 per cent, of girls between 6 and 12 years, 44 per cent, 
of high-school girls. 

Of all kinds of children, — blind, deaf, foreign, etc., — only 17 per 
cent, speak of lack of child companionship and 72 per cent, prefer 
playing dolls in company ; 38 per cent, say that love of dolls grew out 
of love of a real baby and 13 per cent, transferred their doll love to 
babies ; 79 per cent, had tried to feed dolls ; 66 per cent, have thought 
dolls hungry ; 68 per cent, have ascribed to dolls some of the psychic 
qualities mentioned ; 67 per cent, have thought them sick. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 83 

Miscellaneous 

Relative frequency of some forms of doll play. In the sup- 
plementary reports to question 27, 266 children mention a 
fondness for dressing dolls ; 218 like to wash them ; 1 89 have 
a love of doll parties; 183, a love of sewing for them ; 176, a 
love of playing school; 169, love of putting to sleep; 137, 
love of weddings ; 93, of nursing; 82 mention treating them 
as companions, telling secrets, etc. ; 79 love to feed them; 49, 
to punish them ; 36, to play funerals. 

The relations of doll and baby. If the wig comes off dolls, 
they are often treated as babies ; sometimes they are made 
bald-headed to be babies. For some little children dolls with 
hair have no charm, and as children grow older they dislike 
baby dolls. Transference of affection from dolls to a new baby 
is often noted. Some are afraid of dolls till acquainted with 
babies and then become very fond of them. Some children 
think babies, like dolls, are filled with sawdust. Some experi- 
ment on babies, putting fingers in their eyes, etc., and treat 
them generally as they have been used to treating dolls. 

Paper dolls. Some children never care for paper dolls ; 
some think them best to play or act fairy stories. Of 27 boys, 
aged seven, 5 played with and preferred paper dolls. Some chil- 
dren prefer them to all others and play with them longer. As 
they grow older paper dolls have a peculiar fascination. One 
girl of seventeen ended doll play by putting her paper dolls in 
a scrapbook as a house. School, collective games, and families 
are more often played with paper dolls. 

Maimed dolls. If dolls lose their heads, eyes, or get other- 
wise deformed, little children are often afraid of them. Some 
are horrified if the wig comes off ; some little children fear 
everything in human shape, perhaps, till they make the ac- 
quaintance of a new baby and then love dolls. Some suddenly 
conceive lifelike wax dolls as real dead persons and have 



1 84 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

sudden aversions for them. Some like to maim dolls, pulling 
off their limbs, perhaps killing them, in order to have a funeral. 
Sometimes it is thought rather disgraceful to both doll and 
owner to have new heads, limbs, etc. Accidents to dolls some- 
times cause sensitive children to faint. 

Influence of age. Very rare are those who begin doll play 
in the cradle and keep it up through life. The doll passion 
seems to be strongest between seven and ten, and to reach its 
climax between eight and nine. 

In the supplementary papers 5 5 stopped playing dolls because 
they liked other things better; 50 ceased to care for^them 
without being able to give a reason ; 46 stopped because they 
were too old ; 44, because too large ; 22, because too busy and 
had no time; 15, because ashamed; 11, because they loved 
a real baby. Others gave their dolls away, preferred new play- 
mates, were made to stop, dolls were worn out, etc. 

Persius tells us how the young Roman girl, when ripe for 
marriage, hung up her childhood's dolls as a votive offering to 
Venus. 

Froude, in his life of Carlyle, tells how Mrs. Carlyle at the 
age of nine made an end of doll play. It had been intimated 
to her, by one whose wish was law, that a young lady reading 
Virgil must make an end of doll play. She decided that dolly 
should die like Dido, so with her many sumptuous dresses, her 
four-post bed, a faggot or two of cedar allumettes, a few sticks 
of cinnamon, a few cloves, and a nutmeg, her funeral pyre was 
built, and *' the new Dido having placed himself in the bed, 
with help, spoke through my lips the last sad words of Dido the 
first, which I then had all by heart as pat as A, B, C. The 
doll having thus spoken, kindled the pile, and stabbed herself 
with a penknife by way of a Tyrian sword. Then, however, in 
the moment of seeing my poor doll blaze up (for being stuffed 
with bran she took fire and it was all over in no time), in that 
supreme moment my affection for her blazed up also, and I 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 85 

shrieked and would have saved her and could not, and went on 
shrieking, and everybody within hearing flew to me and bore 
me off in a flood of tears." 

Girls often play with dolls regularly until thirteen or four- 
teen, when, with the dawn of adolescence, the doll passion 
generally abates. It is then realized more distinctly than before 
that dolls have absolutely no inner life or feeling. Some girls 
play with dolls with great pleasure, but secretly, till well on in 
the teens and often in the twenties, and occasionally married 
women, generally those without children, or single women, 
play with dolls all their lives. Several of our returns report 
infants as interested in dolls very early in life, — one fully 
reported case at thirty days, another at thirteen weeks, and 
several cases before one year old. For the second year of life 
our reports contain about twenty cases of developed love of 
dolls. Near the end of the second year one child was observ- 
ant enough to take the rectal temperature of her doll. 

Some children prefer naked dolls, and persist in playing 
with them in this condition, imagining that thus they can 
love them more. Some children have special aversions, now 
to dolls with brown eyes, now to light- or dark-haired dolls, 
those with long or short hair, etc. ; some children compose 
stories and even poems for or about their dolls ; a six-year-old 
boy, e.g., says : " I have a little dolly, she sits in a chair. 
Her name is Polly, and I comb her hair." " One doll would 
not stand and I was angry, knocked out its eyes and gave it 
away." "To tell my dolly she looks ugly makes her good." 
" I imagined my dolly cruelly treated for what it never did, but 
loved to tease it and pretended she said bad words." " My 
dolls all kept individual characteristics, often suggested by the 
faces." " I could never understand why dolls needed to be 
whipped, and thought them so good that I was greatly hurt 
when they were accused of faults." " I thought dolls greatly 
pleased with new clothes, toys, etc." 



1 86 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Infliience of dolls on children. All opinions received are rudely 
classified as follows : 44 adults simply report the influence of dolls on 
children as good; 41 think dolls help parenthood; 39 think rude dolls 
best to cultivate the imagination ; 38 think dolls fit for domestic life ; 38 
think they develop moral qualities ; 35, that they cultivate taste in dress ; 
35, that they teach to sew ; 29, that they teach tidiness ; 25 like rude dolls 
best ; 25 think that they develop the social nature ; 24, that they teach 
to make clothes; 24, that they teach thoroughness; 24 report that there 
was no regularity in the care of dolls ; 23 thought the religious nature 
strengthened ; 21, that they teach neatness ; 21 say dolls are better cared 
for if lifelike ; 13, that they are better loved when lifelike ; 12, that they 
teach carefulness ; 7, that the care of dolls helps in care of children ; 6 
think the doll passion makes no difference with children ; 6 report great 
regularity in care of dolls ; 6 say that it develops love of children; 6, that 
doll play is better for children in everyway; 5, that imitation is stimu- 
lated; 4 each specify that playing with dolls' clothes helps children to 
combine colors, makes them more obedient, keeps them quiet, keeps 
them out of mischief, keeps them from bad company, makes them more 
tender, more thoughtful of others, and that expensive dolls are best. 
Three each specify improvement in dress, knowledge of color, say that 
children are more affectionate, more orderly, more sympathetic, that they 
never learn anything from doll play, that they have spells of regularity 
in caring for dolls, and that lifelike dolls are best. Two each think that 
dolls teach children to appreciate parents' care, make them more cheer- 
ful, help power of conversation, help design, teach knitting, to make 
patterns, make the child more observing, more persevering, more stylish, 
more gentle, more refined, exercise a softening influence, and that dolls 
should be in kindergarten. One each thinks that dolls help to care 
for baby, housekeeping, industry, kindness, that the finer senses and 
emotions are developed by them, and that they make children more 
courteous, that they teach embroidery, inspire desire for motherhood, 
philanthropy, love of beauty, memory, mending, originality, patience, 
power, womanliness, truthfulness, show mother the child's traits, make 
pure in thought, respectful, that there is danger of too many accessories, 
that the child's attitude toward dolls is harmed by too light treatment 
and remarks by parents, and that care for the doll's body helps children 
to know and care for their own. 

Some individual opinions of parents and teachers are quite fully 
expressed: "they keep children from growing old"; "best of all is 
the reflex influence on the child of trying to teach her doll and of 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 187 

trying to set a good example " ; '• nice dolls make children more careful 
of them and they ascribe human qualities to them, while rude dolls 
that can be banged about and made to take any part stimulate a more 
elementary type of imagination " ; " to imagine the rug an ocean and 
have a stick doll with a frock that can be washed, gives the fancy 
something to do"; "she learned to read in order to read her doll a 
story " ; "I had a strong wish to be as good as I thought my dolls were " ; 
" children who care least for dolls love their own babies most later " ; 
"dolls hurt my health by making me sit indoors and care too little for 
the company of other children, but they help me put myself in my 
parents' place " ; " too fine dolls check fancy, beget restlessness and 
desire for everything, so there is a limit beyond which dolls should not 
go "; " when mothers fail to impress certain virtues they need but to 
say, ' How would you like to have your doll do it ? ' to score their point" ; 
"dolls might aid in teaching geography, language, history, and draw- 
ing, by playing journeys to different countries, the use of foreign 
money, dress, food, or being engineers, sailors, etc. " ; " dolls might be 
brought to school and by teaching them children could learn their own 
lessons better " ; " doll play reveals character and ideals " ; " excess of 
the doll passion makes excitement, nervousness, worry, and some girls 
are teased into nervousness by their brothers for playing dolls." 

The number and vast variety of objects more or less dollified 
well illustrate the remark of Victor Hugo — that as birds may 
take almost every material for a nest, so nothing resists the 
childish instinct to find or make dolls out of everything, and 
stones, books, balls, buttons, stove hooks, nails, bricks, wash- 
boards, flowers, pins, articles of food, objects with no trace of 
anything that can be called face, limbs, or head, are made dolls. 
Hugo's Cossette dressed, hugged, and put to sleep a naked 
sword. Occasionally immovable things like posts, stumps, and 
even trees are more or less dollified. The quick imagination 
of childhood makes an eye out of a speck or dot, and perhaps 
imagines the other features. This instinct cannot be entirely 
explained as nascent parenthood, but must include some ele- 
ments of the widespread animism, if not fetichism, of children 
and savages. The valuable study of Dr. Fewkes, the Roman 



1 88 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

games, the Doll Feast of Japan, and some of the etymologies 
point this way, as do, perhaps, the rare cases of children who 
make God dolls, whipping them for watching, etc. The fear 
of the spirits of burned dolls, of black dolls, of evil eye, and 
some forms of special aversion point the same way. As the 
optic nerve, whether heated, chilled, touched with chemicals 
or electricity, can only respond by giving the sensation of 
light, so primitive humanity sees personality in everything. 
This again is abundantly proved in returns to another syllabus 
already worked up, illustrating children's feeling for inanimate 
as well as animate nature. However disconnected the words 
doll and idol, some psychic connection cannot be doubted. 
Not only are dolls personified as the visible form of a non- 
existent person, as of Queen Victoria, the Court, and theatri- 
cal personages ; in Japan, of the Mikado and his wife ; and of 
other orientals, of ancestors, but they may represent mytho- 
logical beings or demigods, and evil or beneficent deities. Greek 
statues of the Olympians have been called stone dolls, and the 
iconoclastic rage which destroyed many of them expressed the 
instinct of the first commandment. As object lessons setting 
forth invisible beings in concrete form, idolatry is perhaps as 
much more persistent than dolls, as memory of abstract is more 
persistent than that of concrete words in progressive aphasia, 
and for analogous reasons. Idols may, perhaps, be valuable 
object lessons in religion for children at the low pagan stage 
and may yet have a r61e to play in elementary religious train- 
ing, but their danger is analogous in kind to that sometimes 
feared for excessive and too prolonged doll cult, viz., that it 
may arrest the higher development of parental instincts, check 
interest in free play with children, and place puppets and 
dummies where real personalities ought to be. If deities were 
certain to appear later in concrete form and break the charm of 
idols, so that the danger of forever putting an unworthy sym- 
bol in place of that which it symbolizes could be as effectually 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 189* 

obviated as interest in "meat babies" and live children is 
sure to supplant dolls, idolatry would lose its dangers. Both 
the psychological significance and the educational value of the 
image worship of the Catholic church and of religious pictures, 
figures, and of spiritual beings are topics upon which carefully 
made home experiments and observations, which would be of 
great value, are needed and could be made. 

The relatively small proportion of dolls which represents in- 
fants, and the large proportion representing adults, shows again 
that the parental instinct is far less prominent in doll play than 
is commonly supposed. Nearly all the 132 dolls of Queen Vic- 
toria were adults and represented prominent personages. On 
every hand we see that a large part of the charm of doll play 
is the small scale of the doll world, which brings it not only 
into the limited range of the child's senses and knowledge, 
but focuses and intensifies affection and all other feelings. A 
large part of the world's terms of endearment are diminutives, 
and to its reduced scale the doll world owes much of its charm. 
The cases of fear of dolls are almost always of large dolls, the 
charm of which comes out only well on in the doll period and 
as exceptions to the rule. Even feared and hated objects excite 
pleasure when mimicked on a small scale. Moreover, relations 
are better seen in a world of small things. A small eye or 
mind cannot readily take in a fully dressed lady. Yet again 
the child can work its feeble will on objects with a complete- 
ness which is inversely as their size. Smallness of size indulges 
children's love of feeling their superiority, their desire to boss 
something and to gain their desire along lines of least resist- 
ance or to vent their reaction to the parental tyranny of anger. 
Maggie Tulliver drove nails through her doll's head to vent 
her anger at her aunt, but when the reaction came drew them 
out and poulticed the wounds. There may often be danger in 
a scale too small, as that of Queen Victoria's dolls ranging 
from three to nine inches long, for thirty-two of which she 



I90 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

made dresses, working handkerchiefs half an inch square ; yet 
to make small will always be of itself alone a most effective 
pedagogic method, and will always exert a potent fascination. 
In Japan, it is a fashion to make everything severely small for 
children. Our returns do not show any law of relationship 
between the size of the doll and the size or age of the child, 
save that the extremes of large and small develop their chief 
charm well on in the doll period. Things large, like things far 
off, fail of exciting interest and of being comprehended by chil- 
dren, and are almost as effectively out of their range as things 
microscopic are for adult eyes. As the microscope and tele- 
scope bring minute and distant objects within our purview, so 
a doll microcosm opens up a world of relationship so large, 
and simplifies things so complex, as to be otherwise closed to 
the infant mind. If we take a large view of the doll problem, 
it thus comprises most of the most important questions of 
education. 

That boys are naturally fond of and should play with dolls 
as well as girls, there is abundant indication. One boy in a 
family of girls, or boys who are only children, often play with 
dolls up to seven or eight years of age. It is unfortunate that 
this is considered so predominantly a girl's play. Most boys 
abandon it early or never play, partly because it is thought girl- 
ish by adults as well as by children. Of course boy life is nat- 
urally rougher and demands a wider range of activities. The 
danger, too, of making boy milliners is of course obvious, but 
we are convinced that, on the whole, more play with girl dolls 
by boys would tend to make them more sympathetic with 
girls as children, if not more tender with their wives and with 
women later. Again, boys as well as girls might be encour- 
aged to play with boy dolls more than at present, with great 
advantage to both. Boys, too, seem to prefer exceptional dolls, 
— clowns, brownies, colored, Eskimo, Japanese, etc. Boys, too, 
seem fonder than girls of monkey and animal dolls, and are 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 191 

often very tender of these, when they maltreat dolls in human 
shape. Again, dolls representing heroes of every kind and 
non-existent beings, dragons, and hobgoblins find their chief 
admirers among boys. A boy of six I know was fascinated 
with a rude Jack-o'-lantern, would lie on the floor and talk to 
it by the hour, ask it questions and get what he deemed real 
answers, and was charmed by its horrid features. Boys are 
little prone to doll luxury or elaborate paraphernalia and are 
content with ruder dolls than girls, and the doll function is 
naturally far less developed than with girls. 

In discussing the degree and kind of reality of the doll world, 
we approach one of the most difficult of psychological problems. 
Children seem to delight in giving way to illusions, and even 
delusions here, which it is extremely difficult for the adult 
mind to understand. Often in the midst of the most absorbing 
play, the slightest criticism, a word of appeal to reason, the 
most trivial fact of real life, annihilates in an instant the entire 
doll cosmos. The wedding, school, or funeral is left unfinished, 
the half-dressed doll dropped in the most painful attitude and 
left in the cold for perhaps an indefinite period. Sometimes 
we see traces of a struggle almost painful between faith and 
doubt, either of which may triumph. The doll may have a defi- 
nite personality, be a real member of the family and not a toy, 
or a "hybrid between a baby and a fetich," be a real part of 
the child's self, be fanned, its bruises rubbed and wept over ; 
or, again, as in one case, may be the hero of a vividly fancied 
romance, lose money, work its way out West, become rich, 
travel east, be shipwrecked on a desert island, etc ; real per- 
sonalities may lose interest in comparison with it, and all this 
may be kept up with some consistency for years, — one normal 
woman of twenty-seven and another of forty still play with 
dolls, — absorption in the play blotting out the grossest incon- 
gruities, the doll being a real companion and crony sharing 
every secret and confidence in solitude a deux, on journeys, 



192 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

and elsewhere, so that the child's psychic life seems entirely- 
bound up with it. The subjective and objective, will, feeling, 
and knowledge are strangely mixed. One child had tried all 
her life to keep her doll from knowing she was not alive. 
Dolls are buried without dying, fed without eating, bathed 
without water, are now good, now bad, now happy, now tearful, 
without the slightest change, the child furnishing the motive 
power and all its moods being mirrored in another self. It 
seems to be at about the age of six, three years before the cul- 
mination of the doll passion, that the conflict between fancy 
and reality becomes clearly manifest. Abandonment to the 
doll illusion and the length of the doll period seems less in 
the western than in the eastern children, and decreases as 
dolls and their accessories become elaborate. With every 
increase of knowledge of anatomy or of the difference between 
living tissue and dead matter, between life and mechanism, 
this element of doll play must wane. 

Perhaps nothing so fully opens up the juvenile soul to the 
student of childhood as well-developed doll play. Here we see 
fully revealed things which the childish instinct often tends 
to keep secret. It shows out the real nature which Plato 
thought so important that he advised drunkenness as a re- 
vealer of character. The doll often fears ghosts or lightning, 
and becomes conscious of sex as the child does. Flogging the 
doll for not being in the right place, being untidy, etc., often 
marks the rise of the child's consciousness of order and clean- 
liness. Whispered confidences with the doll are often more 
intimate and sacred than with any human being. The doll is 
taught those things learned best or in which the child has most 
interest. The little mother's real ideas of morality are best 
seen in her punishments and rewards of her doll. Her favorite 
foods are those of her doll. The features of funerals, weddings, 
schools, and parties which are reenacted with the doll are those 
which have most deeply impressed the child. The child's moods, 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 



193 



ideals of life, dress, etc., come to utterance in free and spon- 
taneous doll play. Deaf girls teach their dolls the finger 
alphabet, blind ones sometimes want bandages or glasses for 
their dolls. I know a mother of a sickly child who says she 
can anticipate the symptoms of all the illnesses of her daughter 
because they are first projected upon the doll before the child 
has become fully conscious of them in herself. Children often 
express their own desire for goodies euphemistically by saying, 
"Dolly wants it." Thus the individuality of children some- 
times is more clearly revealed in the characters they give their 
dolls than in their own traits. Long-kept dolls thus often grow 
up, as it were, with the child, their infantile qualities expanding 
into those of childhood and then youth. Paper dolls, often with 
picture food, which seem more ideal and more often associated 
with fairy stories, betray the evanescent stages of the doll psy- 
chosis as it fades into adult life. 

Is doll play an early cropping out of mother love as Schneider 
and Victor Hugo and others think ? And are dolls represent- 
atives of future children } This appears to be true only in 
a limited and partial sense, and we must readjust our views 
upon this point. Some mothers, very fond of their children 
now, never cared much for dolls, while many of our returns 
show that unmarried women and childless wives have been most 
enthusiastic devotees of dolls, and in such cases the doll cult 
seems often to be most prolonged. It also seems natural for 
small boys. Certainly other functions are more pronounced. 
There seems to be a premonition of the parental instinct in 
early childhood, which fades as the dawn of adolescence ap- 
proaches, as the fetal hair falls off to make place for a ranker 
growth much later. The saying that the first child is the last 
doll is, I believe, not true of normal women. The treatment of 
and feeling toward a doll and a child are more unlike than the 
teeth of first and second dentition. That the first may hyper- 
trophy and dwarf the second is undoubted. Indeed it is just 



194 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



possible that the ideal mother never plays dolls with great aban- 
don. Despite the increased extent of doll play, its intensity 
seems a little on the wane among the best people, and too many 
accessories lessen the educational value of this play in teaching 
children to put themselves in the parent's place, in deepening 
love of children, and of motherhood. 

The educational value of dolls is enormous, and the protest of 
this paper is against longer neglect of it. It educates the heart 
and will, even more than the intellect, and to learn how to con- 
trol and apply doll play will be to discover a new instrument in 
education of the very highest potency. Every parent and every 
teacher who can deal with individuals at all should study the 
doll habits of each child, now discouraging and repressing, now 
stimulating by hint or suggestion. There should be somewhere 
(i) a doll museum, (2) a doll expert to keep the possibilities 
of this great educative instinct steadily in view, and (3) careful 
observations upon children of kindergarten, primary, and gram- 
mar grades should be instituted, as at an experiment station, in 
order to determine just what is practicable. Children with 
French dolls incline to practice their little French upon them ; 
can this tendency be utilized in teaching a foreign language to 
young children? Some children read stories in order to tell 
them to their doll, and one learned to read by the strength of 
this motive. With what proportion of children can this be help- 
ful ? Many children learn to sew, knit, and do millinery work, 
observe and design costumes, acquire taste in color, and even 
prepare food for the benefit of the doll. Children who are in- 
different to reading for themselves sometimes read to their doll 
and learn things they would not otherwise do in order to teach 
it, or are clean, to be like it. They are good in order to set it a 
good example, compose poetry, and write compositions for it, 
their naughtiness is reduced by asking them how they would 
like their dolls to do so ; and to be as good as they think their 
dolls are is sometimes a high ideal. Goethe reproduced dramas 



I A STUDY OF DOLLS Ml iqc; 

with puppets in a doll thfeateir as several of our correspondents 
have done. To make them represent heroes in histc^y or fiction, 
to have collections illustrating costumes of different countries, 
the Eskimdhut, the Indian teepee, the cowboy's log cabin, to 
take them p(i imaginai^ jou^eys with foreign money, is not 
merely to keep children youn^ cheerful, out of bad company, 
but it is to |ekch geography, history and morals, nature, etc., 
in the most\ objective possi^l€^ way; Plenty of toy animals, 
figures representing different vocations and trades, poor and 
rich, etc., woiild be not only taking the dolls to kindergarten 
and school, but' would also bring rudimentary sociology, ethics, 
and science in their most-needed\and ^ective form. Dolls are 
a good school for children to jVaCtice^^ll they know. Chil- 
\ dren are at a certain period interested to know what is inside 
\ things, especially dolls ; could no| manikin dolls be made that 
I were dissectible enStUgh to teach some anatomy ? Would not 
klolls and their f ufilishings be among the best things to make 
m manual training sdh|?olsJ and why ^re dolls, which repre- 
sent the most original, free, &nd spontaneous Expression of the 
play instinct so commonly excluded from thfe kindergarten, 
where they could aid in teaching almost everything? 

V 

/ Anthropological ]?^pTES 

Doctor Gustay Schlegel writes : " Dolls are of recent origin 
. in Europe. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, during 
^\ the reign of mad Charles VI of France, an Italian, named 
Pusello, came from Padua td f'rance with thirty mules packed 
with boxes and hung with jingling bells. He had in these 
boxes wooden images of ninety-six empresses and other cele- 
brated women of the old Roman Empire, carved after statues 
and coins. He showed them everywhere, gaining a consider- 
able fortune by their exposition. At last the counselors of 
the king called him to court in order to amuse His Majesty. 



196 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

When he came to the explanation of the statuette of Poppcea^ 
who, it is pretended, was killed by Nero by a kick in her 
belly, the king listened with the greatest attention, and at last 
bought the statuette of Poppaea for fifty Parisians sols, about 
three hundred francs of present currency. The king's example 
was soon followed, and every nobleman bought such a little 
statue ; and ever it appears that such pouppees, or dolls, came 
at that time in vogue as playthings for girls. 

" Children in Amoy play with solid puppets made of baked 
clay, called Hai d2i-a, or ' babies ' ; and Douglas even quotes 
the saying KaJi na hai dzi-a, equivalent to our saying, * As 
fair as a doll,' said of a pretty child. 

" Puppets for theatrical performances were long known in 
China, but from these to the doll as a plaything for little 
girls is a long distance, and Chinese girls never played with 
them. 

" Probably the doll, as an article to play with for little girls, 
has been equally imported into Japan by the Dutch." 

Dr. J. Walter Fewkes writes : " The Tusayan custom of 
giving the symbolism of a god to the doll, to which you refer, 
may be limited to that interesting people, but I suspect that 
it has a deep significance, and may show a universal relation- 
ship between child concepts and primitive social cult develop- 
ment. The Tusayan name for a doll is tiJiu, personification, 
not far from elhuiKov in meaning. A dramatic dance in which 
gods are personified by men (masked) is spoken of as ti/mni, 
— we personate (gods). I find, in studying the Tusayan calen- 
dar, as a whole, that dolls resembhng Katcinas ^ are made 
in Powamn, the February ceremony, as well as at Nimati, in 
July, and presented to the little girls in the same way ; never 
given to boys. 

1 Masked figures, or images of them, who take part in the religious cere- 
monies of the Tusayan or Hopi Indians. Their exact significance is some- 
what doubtful. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 197 

"Just before I left Cambridge last November I installed 
my collection of Tusayan dolls in the upper story of the 
Peabody Museum, and if you happen that way, you may find 
it interesting to see them. A few more were collected last 
summer, but all duplicates. I noticed last August that one 
Tusayan child had a China doll hanging to the rafters of her 
mother's home with her Katcina dolls, and she supposed it 
represented a Pahafio (American) Katcitta." 

W. E. Griffis, in his " Games and Sports of Japanese Chil- 
dren,"^ says : "On the third day of the third month is held 
the Hina matsuri. This is the day especially devoted to the 
girls, and to them it is the greatest day in the year. It has 
been called in some foreign works on Japan, the ' Feast of 
Dolls.' Several days before the matsuri the shops are gay 
with the images bought for this occasion and which are on 
sale only at this time of year. Every respectable family has 
a number of these splendidly dressed images, which are from 
four inches to a foot in height, and which accumulate from 
generation to generation. When a daughter is born in the 
house during the previous year, a pair of hina, or images, are 
purchased for the little girl, which she plays with till grown 
up. When she is married her hina are taken with her to her 
husband's house, and she gives them to her children, adding 
to the stock as her family increases. The images are made 
of wood or enameled clay. They represent the Mikado and 
his wife ; the ktige, or old Kioto nobles, their wives and 
daughters, the court minstrels, and various personages in 
Japanese mythology and history. A great many other toys, 
representing all the articles in use in a Japanese lady's cham- 
ber, the service of the eating table, the utensils of the kitchen, 
traveling apparatus, etc., some of them very elaborate and 
costly, are also exhibited and played with on this day. The 

^ Translation of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. II, pp. 132-133, London, 
1882. 



198 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

girls make offerings of sake and dried rice, etc., to the effigies 
of the emperor and empress, and then spend the day with 
toys, mimicking the whole round of Japanese female life, as 
that of child, maiden, wife, mother, and grandmother. In 
some old Japanese families in which I have visited the dis- 
play of dolls and images was very large and extremely 
beautiful. 

" On this day the entire female sex appears in holiday attire. 
The whole household store of dolls, among which are many 
old family treasures, is brought out for the girls and set up 
in a special room. The living dolls entertain the dead ones 
with food and drink, the latter consisting, in the absence of 
milk, of shiro-sake (white sweet cake). In Kio-bashidori, at 
Tokyo, where the shops are large and splendid and some of 
the dolls expensive, there is great activity on this day. For- 
merly the ' Feast of Dolls ' fell, as a rule, in April, when the 
favorite sakura trees are in blossom, and as it resembles our 
peach tree, Europeans have named it the ' Festival of the 
Peach Flowers.' 

"On this occasion mothers adorn the chamber with blos- 
soming peach boughs and arrange therein an exhibition of 
all the dolls which their daughters have received ; these 
represent the Mikado and Court personages, for whom a 
banquet is prepared, which is consumed by the guests of 
the evening. 

'• The greatest day in the year for the boys is on the fifth 
day of the fifth month. On this day is celebrated what is 
known as the ' Feast of Flags.' Previous to the coming of 
the day the shops display for sale the toys and tokens proper 
to the occasion. These are all of a kind, suited to young 
Japanese masculinity. They consist of effigies of heroes and 
warriors, generals and commanders, soldiers on foot and horse, 
the genii of strength and valor, wrestlers, etc. The toys 
represent the equipments and regalia of a daimio's procession, 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 1 99 

all kinds of things used in war, the contents of an arsenal, 
flags, streamers, banners, etc. A set of these toys is bought 
for every son born in the family. Hence in old Japanese 
families the display of the fifth day of the fifth month is exten- 
sive and brilliant." 

In Korea, at the children's festival, which falls on the eighth 
day of the fourth month, toys are universally sold, the most 
popular being the Ot-tok-i, or erect standing one. This is an 
image made of paper, with a rounded bottom filled with clay, 
so that it always stands upright ; it is feminine, and has many 
counterparts throughout the world, and is a possible survival 
of the image of a deity anciently worshiped in Korea at this 
season, the above date being the birthday of Buddha, and 
this toy perhaps having once been his image. Still more 
anciently this was the date of the celebration of the vernal 
equinox. 

In Japan the sitting toy is made to represent the Indian 
saint Daruma, and its name, Oki agari koboshi, means the 
little priest that rises up. They must be weighted to rise 
quickly. Tsuchi-ningyo means clay images of men and horses 
once buried with the dead to take the place of living sacri- 
fices. Its French name, Le Poussah, is Buddha. This toy, 
therefore, is a common plaything, carved by an idol maker, 
and once an object of worship. 

M. Ollivier Beauregard ^ says that there are two chief theat- 
ricals of dolls in Java, — the Topeng (mute mask), and Wayang 
(spectacle in shadow). In the latter a sort of bard rhapsodist 
operates the dolls and tells them their roles of love and war 
to musical accompaniment. The dolls represent historical 
and mythological personages, and this is thought the best 
means of teaching history and enforcing its morals early. The 
spectators are often so interested that they watch the play all 
night. These Javanese marionettes are of three kinds : (i)very 

1 Bulletins de la Sociiti cT Anthropologic de Paris, December, 1894, p. 689. 



200 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

ancient gods and heroes ; (2) celebrants of special festivals ; 
(3) common dramatic figures. This is the most important of 
the native amusements coming at the time of the New 
Year's feast, which, in 1890, was from April 21 to May 21. 
W. Basil Worsfold, in his A Visit to Java, says : " This is very 
simple business ; beneath a Punch and Judy show in point of 
art, but the audience watch the puerile display for five or six 
hours without intermission. The theater consists of panto- 
mimic representations with which is mingled a ballet, the 
basis of which is ancient tradition." 

James Mooney, of the Bureau of Ethnology, writes : "Among 
the Mokis and Pueblo tribes, generally, dolls are commonly 
representations of mythologic characters, and consequently 
have some religious significance. I doubt if this be the case 
among any other tribes, unless, possibly, among the totem-pole 
tribes of the northwest coast. Among others, probably, and 
with the prairie tribes certainly, dolls are simply girls' toys, as 
with us, and have no other purpose and are not used by boys. 
In other words, as you say, their use is from * a common human 
instinct.' The Kiowas, with whom I am most closely asso- 
ciated, have a religious dread of making tangible representa- 
tion of mythologic beings. Little girls frequently carry and 
dress up puppies as dolls. Boys never play with dolls. Girls 
'play house ' with their dolls, as with us." 

He adds : ** With Kiowas and other prairie tribes dolls are 
simply girls' toys. The dolls represent both sexes, but, so far 
as my observation goes, are used only by girls. Indians lay 
great stress upon manly distinctions, and boys and girls rarely 
use the same toys or games." 

R. J. Dodge says: "The little Indian girls are very fond 
of dolls, which their mothers make and dress with considerable 
skill and taste. Their baby houses are miniature tepees, and 
they spend as much time and take as much pleasure in such 
play as white girls." 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 20I 

Speaking of Eskimo toys, sledges, and dolls. Dr. Boas^ says : 
** The last are made in the same way by all the tribes, a wooden 
body being clothed with scraps of deerskin cut in the same 
way as the clothing of men." 

Clay MacCauley, in the same report, says : " The Seminole 
has a doll, i.e., a bundle of rags, a stick with a bit of cloth 
wrapped about it, or something that serves just as well as this. 
The children build little houses for their dolls and name them 
'camps.' " 

We see thus that among the Pueblo Indians, the Koreans 
and Chinese dolls are exact imitations in miniature of old tribal 
fetiches or idols no longer worshiped, made or sold on a spe- 
cial feast day or given only to girls with formal ceremony. 
Among the Pueblos this day was the primitive corn feast. 
Among the Koreans and Chinese it was the day once celebrated 
as the birthday of Buddha. In both these languages the word 
for doll is from the same root as the word for fetich or idol. 
In Japan, at a yearly feast, all the dolls of many generations 
are present, and the living dolls entertain the dead ones. 
Again it is possible that the ancient custom of Roman maidens 
of hanging up their dolls to Venus when they loosed their 
girdles was primitively a religious rite of consecrating play 
children to the goddess of fecundity. Still, in most lan- 
guages the word for fetich and for doll have at best only a 
secondary connection, and that doll play is degraded fetich 
worship is certainly unproved. The exact origin and mean- 
ing of the Lares and Penates is too uncertain to base argu- 
ment upon. 

Dolls are found buried along with the children in the sar- 
cophagi of the ancient Egyptians. A little girl figure was 
found in one of the buried cities with a doll clasped to her 
breast. 

1 An7mal Report of the Btireaii of American Ethnology^ iSS^-iSS^, p. 571. 
Washington, 1888. 



202 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Baring Gould says : "A white marble sarcophagus occu- 
pies the center of one of the rooms in the basement of the 
Capitoline Museum in Rome. The sarcophagus contains the 
bones and dust of a little girl, and by the side is the child's 
wooden doll, precisely like the dolls made and sold to-day. In 
the catacombs of St. Agnes one end of a passage is given up 
to the objects found in the tombs of the early Christians, and 
among these are some very similar dolls taken out of the graves 
of the Christian children." 

W. H. Holmes 1 thinks that dolls found with other relics in 
graves in the province of Chiriqui were possibly toys, but more 
probably tutelary images. 

Miss Alice Fletcher writes: "Among the Indian tribes 
with which I am familiar there is no special treatment of dolls. 
All depends upon the particular child's imagination and imita- 
tive powers. 

" As far as my observation goes, and I can learn, the religious 
ceremonies of the tribe are not mimicked, although some of 
the practices of the same are. The religious rites of the white 
race are reproduced by the children. As far as I can yet dis- 
cover, there is no relation between dolls and a fetich or any 
emblem." 

During the two years that have intervened since the first 
syllabus was issued this subject has steadily grown in both 
interest and importance to the editors' minds, until this paper 
seems but the faintest and feeblest beginning of the many 
more special investigations that ought to be made in its field. 
Where could the philologist, for example, find a richer field 
for the study of the principle of analogy, the law of diminu- 
tives and of conferring names generally, and I know not what 
else, than in a far more extended and systematic investigation 
of dolls' names ? The whole subject of idolatry, the use and 

1 Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology , 1884-188J, p. 152. 
Washington, 1888. 



A STUDY OF DOLLS 203 

psychology of images and pictures of God, Christ, angels, 
saints, etc., suggests, but only begins to reveal its richness 
here. When we reflect on the role that tutelary and ancestral 
images, puppets, heroic and mythological dolls have played 
in the past, the question must force itself upon our minds 
whether some well-devised form not only of image worship but 
even of fetichism might not be made as helpful in early reli- 
gions as object lessons have been in secular education since 
Comenius. We do use pictures and statuettes of classical 
mythology to great advantage. Are we now advanced and 
strong enough to utilize the powerful instinct of idolatry still 
further, so as to get its stimulus and avoid its great and obvious 
dangers .? Children's ideas of life, death, soul, virtue and vice, 
disease, sickness, all the minor morals of dress, toilet, eating, 
etc., of family, state, church, theology, etc., are all as open as 
day, here, to the observer, and, although unconscious to them- 
selves, almost anything within these large topics can be explored 
by the observing, tactful adult, without danger of injuring that 
naifvete of childhood which is both its best trait and its chief 
charm. What topic yet proposed for child study is not, at 
least in part, illustrated here ? 

Imperfect as this study is, however, alas for the tact and 
intuitive power of the parent and kindergartner that does not 
find in the children's and mothers' records a wealth of helpful 
and immediately practical suggestions for their daily task of 
unfolding childhood from within. We have carefully refrained 
from psychologic or pedagogic generalizations, which have been 
often very tempting, because the time has not yet come for 
conclusions or specific rules of application. Prematureness 
and rashness here would involve danger of great harm ; but, 
as further researches are needed on the scientific side, special 
studies on the practical side are no less desiderated. 

A. Caswell Ellis 
G. Stanley Hall 



204 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Baring-Gould, S. Strange Survivals. Methuen & Co., London, 1902. 
287 pages. 

Chamberlain, Alexander F. Child and Childhood in Folk Thought. 
Macmillan, New York, 1896. 464 pages. 

Compayre, G. L'Evolution intellectuelle et morale de I'enfant (chap- 
ter on Les Jeux, pp. 270-278). Hachette & Co., Paris, 1893. 371 pages. 

Dodge, Richard Irving. Our Wild Indians. A. G. Nettleton & Co., 
Chicago, 1882. 

Fewkes, J. Walter. "Dolls of the Tusayan Indians," Interjiaiwnal 
Archiv fur Ethnograp/iie, Vol. VII, pp. 45-73, 1894. 

Griffis, W. E. " Games and Sports of Japanese Children," Trans, 
of the Asiatic Soc. of fapan, Vol. II, pp. 132-133, London, 1882. 

Keller, Helen. The Story of My Life, pp. 22-24. Doubleday, Page 
& Co., New York, 1903. 441 pages. 

Lazarus, M. Ueber die Reize des Spiels. Diimmler, Berlin, 1883. 

Lombroso, Paola. Saggi di Psicologia del Bambino. Fratelli Bocca, 
Torino e Roma, 1894. 126 pages. 

Low, Frances H. "Queen Victoria's Dolls." George Newnes, Lon- 
don, 1894. 

Lubbock, Sir John. Origin of Civilization, Appendix, p. 545. 
D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1902. 577 pages. 

Rein, J. J. Japan: Travels and Researches (translated from the 
German). Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1889. 534 pages. 

Sidney, Margaret. Five Little Peppers Grown Up. Lothrop Pub- 
lishing Company, Boston, 1892. 

Stewart, Culin. Korean Games (with notes on the corresponding 
games of China and Japan). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 

1895. xxxvi -f 177 pages. 

Sully, James. Studies of Childhood. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 

1896. 527 pages. See index for many references, especially George 
Sand's doll experiences. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT i 

The " treasures " of children are cherished by them with 
feelings of sacredness, pride, and importance which can hardly 
be appreciated by the adult, unless he be blessed with a bit 
of foolish sentiment himself or possessed of a vivid memory 
penetrating back into the recesses of his own childish heart. 
Even more than in the single object of affection, — the pet 
chicken, the especial pride of a top, the beloved scrap of 
colored ribbon, the Httle shining stone fostered almost as a 
fetich, — the "treasure" feeling in children seems to expand 
and thrive especially when bestowed upon a collection of 
objects, objects which are not only a possession, like the 
single cherished fetich, but a seemingly great possession, com- 
manding the admiration which repetition and numbers always 
invoke, and a possession, too, that may be compared proudly, 
or at least stimulatingly, with similar possessions of childish 
compeers and rivals. The single fetich treasure twines about 
the heart in a more or less indefinable, unreasoning sort of 
way. It strikes a cord of fancy or sentiment, perhaps through 
some association, or perhaps merely as a fragment seemingly 
unrelated to any other feeling and not based on any reason. 
But the collection treasure arouses, besides and along with 
the feeling of kinship and close relationship between " me " 
and " my possession," a more objective interest based on more 
definable even if more varied motives. 

A study of the collecting instinct, craze, fad, or interest, 
however one may choose to designate this widespread phe- 
nomenon, is the object of this paper. Mrs. Annie Howes 

1 Reprinted in abridged form from Pedagogical Setninary, Vol. VII, pp. 179- 
207, July, 1900. 

205 



2o6 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Barus has given an interesting biography, recorded from 
observation, of her own Httle boy's passion for bottles, begin- 
ning in his first year as a fear and mystery fetich-feehng for 
a particular huge green bottle, and developing into an affec- 
tion for bottles in general and love of many bottles. Professor 
Earl Barnes contributes a reminiscent study based on the 
recollections of ninety-two adults, and Sara E. Wiltse and 
Dr. G. .Stanley Hall have also made a study from a large 
amount of data. 

The data which I wish to present here have been gotten 
from the reports of children themselves. A certain fifth grade 
in the schools of Santa Barbara, California, exhibited in con- 
nection with their nature study and history work a very lively 
interest in collections, and all the children were anxious to tell 
of their birds' eggs, their Chinese coins, their Indian arrows, 
and to bring specimens to the schoolroom. This collection 
interest had developed in the children spontaneously, and its 
extent and intensity were a surprise. In order to gain more 
definite information in regard to the nature of this interest, the 
children were asked to make out a list of all the things they 
had ever collected, tell when they began and when they stopped 
any collection, give the number of objects in each, and tell also 
various things about them, as will be discussed later. The 
results proved so fertile that a set of questions was made out 
and given to most of the teachers in the city, to be filled out 
by the children, and a similar set was gathered from school 
children of Santa Rosa. Several days were allowed in order 
that they might have time carefully to think up, look up, 
and count up their collections, and jog the memory of their 
mammas, also, as to their past collections. In some cases, 
as when an enterprising youth of ten years recorded sixty- 
six collections, fifty-five of them still continuing, the teacher 
herself consulted the mother and made sure that all were 
verified. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



207 



Records were obtained from 510 Santa Barbara children 
and 704 Santa Rosa children, in all 607 boys and 607 girls, 
or 1 2 14 children. 

The universality of the collecting interest was strikingly 
brought out. Only ten per cent, of the boys and nine per cent, 
of the girls were not actively making collections at the time, 
while but three per cent, of the boys and one per cent, of the 
girls said they had never made any collections, slightly fewer 
girls than boys being exempt. 

The intensity of the collecting interest is shown in the 
number of collections made, as given in the following tables 
(I and II) : 

Table I 



Boys 
Girls 
Children 



Present and Past Collections 

2874 Collections Average to the boy . 4.7 Collections 

3261 Collections Average to the girl . 5.4 Collections 

6135 Collections Average to the child 5.1 Collections 

Table II 
Present or Active Collections 



1937 Collections 
21 15 Collections 
Children . 4052 Collections 



Boys 
Girls 



Average to the boy . 3.2 Collections 
Average to the girl . 3.5 Collections 
Average to the child 3.3 Collections 



It will be seen that the girls slightly exceed the boys in the 
average number of collections made, as well as in the number 
making collections. 

That the children on the average were in process of making 
from three to four actual collections bespeaks a considerable 
amount of energy being drained off through the channels of 
this instinct. But the generahties of the average cover up 
the ** spots " where the instinct breaks out with remarkable 
intensity. There were six boys and ten girls making 9 collec- 
tions each ; seven boys and four girls making 10 collections 



2o8 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

each ; three boys and five girls making 1 1 collections each ; 
one boy and two girls making 12 collections each; one boy 
making 13 collections; one girl making 14 collections; one, 
16; one, 18 ; one, 32 ; and one boy making 55. 

The age development in regard to the number of collections 
made is worthy of notice. The following table (III) shows 
the variation of the average number of actively continuing 
collections for ages from six to seventeen years. 

Table III 
Average Numder of Active Collections for Different Ages 

Age Average Average Average 

in Years per Boy per Girl per Child 

6 1.2 1.9 1.4 

7 2.1 2.6 2.3 

8 3.5 4-5 4. 

9 3-9 41 4- 

10 4-4 44 4-4 

II 3-4 3-3 3-3 

12 3. 3- 3- 

13 3-5 3-4 3-4 

14 3- 3- 3- 

15 2.7 3.2 3. 

16 2.1 3.3 2.8 

17 2. 3. 2.5 

The impulse to collect, as shown by the reports on past col- 
lections, manifests itself at an early age, at least by three 
years. It develops rapidly from six years on and reaches its 
greatest intensity from eight to ten or eleven years, being 
strongest at ten years ; then it continues with moderate force 
into adolescence. From fourteen years on the boys show 
declining interest, while the interest of girls continues more 
steadily. The high-tide mark is shown by the average number 
of collections at ten years, being then 4.4 collections for both 
boys and girls. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 209 

The question as to what children collect is best answered 
by asking what they do not collect. The consciously applied 
genius of man could hardly concoct a more numerous and 
diversified set of objects, — objects ranging from the utterly 
absurd, the useless, the grotesque to the really valuable ; 
ranging from the commonest, meanest things to the rarest ; 
objects appealing to all sorts of interests and allied with a 
variety of motives. 

The following alphabetical list of nearly three hundred 
varieties of collections serves well to impress the vagaries of the 
collecting instinct, — to show how, in its intensity, it squeezes 
into any little channel that circumstance may open up. The 
classification is of course somewhat arbitrary. I have given 
as far as possible the specific collections as reported by the 
children. For instance, doll buggies, doll dresses, doll dishes, 
doll hats, and doll quilts might be summed up under doll 
belongings, but the children gave them separately. While, 
on the other hand, the term pictures might be divided into 
numerous classes, as funny pictures, pictures of noted men, 
of actresses, of poets, of singers, of babies, of animals, of 
flowers, war pictures, war-ship pictures, fashion pictures, 
mythological pictures, all of which were mentioned by the 
children. But as the majority who collected pictures simply 
gave the general term, I have combined under it all these 
special terms. 

The boys and girls show about an equal variety in kinds of 
collections, the former making 215 different kinds and the 
latter 214. 

In the following table the alphabetical order has been 
followed as the form most convenient for reference. The 
classification under subject-headings to show distribution of 
interests among the various groups of objects included in the 
collections, and the relative popularity of each group among 
boys and girls, is given in Table VI. 



2IO 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



Table IV 
List of Collections with Number of Boys and Girls making Each Kind 



Boys Girls 



Acorns 4 

Advice (bits of) ... i 

Animals i 

Antlers (deer) ... 2 

Arrowheads . . . . 19 

Autographs .... 4 
Autograph sentiments . 

Badges 23 

Bald-headed men counted 

Balls I 

Beads 5 

Beans 2 

Bees I 

Beetles i 

Belts 

Bills 

Birds 16 

Birds' beaks and claws i 

Birds' eggs .... 289 

Birds' nests .... 17 

Birds' wings .... 2 

Blocks 4 

Bones 5 

Booklets 

Books 40 

Books (advertisement) 
Books (school) . . . 

Books (scrap) ... 6 
Books (song) .... 

Bottles 9 

Bottles (perfume) . . 

Boxes 12 

Bracelets 

Brass i 



I 

2 

3 

IS 
I 

39 
4 
I 
I 
I 
I 
5 

81 

7 



5 
I 
70 
I 
I 

15 
2 

13 

I 

16 



Breastpins . 
Bullets . . 
Butterflies . 
Buttons ... 
Buttons (cuff) 
Buttons (picture) 

Calendars , . 
Candies . . . 
Cans .... 
Cards (calling) 
Cards (cigarette) 
Cards (election) 
Cards (merit) . 
Cards (picture) 
Cards (report) 
Cards (tally) . 
Cartridges . . 
Caterpillars 
Cats .... 
Certificates 
Chalk . . . 
Charm-strings . 
Chickens . 
Chillicotes . . 
China (painted) 
Chips . . . 
Christmas berries 
Chrysanthemums 
Cigar-box papers 
Cigar holders 
Cigar ribbons 
Cigar tags 
Cigar tins . 
Cigar stamps 



Boys Girls 

I 

2 

29 20 

84 154 

I I 

39 32 

7 15 
7 
I 



3 
16 

9 
I 

57 204 
I 
I 
2 
2 

3 
I 

2 
3 
3 

8 5 
I 

I 

I 
I 

3 

I 
6 II 
389 149 
I 
4 



38 
36 



13 
I 

7 

4 
I 

7 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



21 1 



Clay 

Clocks I 

Clothespins .... i 
Clothes stamps . . . 
Clover (four-leaf) . . 

Cocoons 

Coins 41 

Compositions .... 

Cookies 

Coupons 14 

Cows I 

Crabs 2 

Crystals 4 

Cups and saucers . . 3 
Curios (Alaskan, Indian, 
etc.) 29 

Dishes 2 

Dishes (broken) . . . 

Dolls I 

Dolls (paper) ... 4 
Doll buggies .... 
Doll clothes .... 

Doll dishes 

Doll hats 

Doll quilts .... 

Dogs 6 

Dogs (rubber) ... i 
Dragonflies .... 

Drawings 2 

Dresses 

Ducks I 



Boys Girls 
I 



Earrings . . 
Easter eggs 
Envelope rings 
Envelopes . . 



I 
I 
2 
2 
28 
I 
I 
9 



14 



17 



15 
II 

95 

106 

I 

17 
I 
I 
I 

2 

I 
6 

2 



Ferns 

Fish . . 

Fishhooks 

Flags 

Flint . . 

Flowers (paper) 

Flowers (pressed) 

Fossils 

Frogs 

Furs . 

Games 

Glass (pieces of) 

Glasses 

Goats 

Gopher skins 

Grass 

Guns 

Hair (locks of) 

Handkerchiefs 

Hats .... 

Hat tips counted 

History scraps 

Horses . . . 

Horsehair chains 

Horseshoe nails 

Horseshoes 

Horses counted (white) 



I 
I 

5 
I 

2 

I 
I 

12 

4 

16 

6 



Jackstones 
Jewelry . 
Jugs 



29 
6 



Boys Girls 

7 
7 
I 
8 
18 

16 

3 
I 



12 

4 
4 
58 
2 
I 
I 



I 3 

17 35 



17 
I 
I 
4 



7 
41 



Insects 9 4 

Invitations i 

Iron 3 



Fans . . 
Feathers 



Keys 
Kites 



212 

Knives . . . 
Knots in ropes 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Boys Girls 



Labels 7 

Lace 

Lead 4 

Leaves 40 

Leaves (decayed) . . 

Letters 4 

Lizards i 

Magazines 4 

• 3 
. 221 

• 25 
I 
I 
2 
I 



Maps .... 
Marbles . . . 
Marbles (agates) 
Match-box tops . 
Matches 
Medals .... 

Mice 

Minerals 22 

Money 10 

Monkeys i 

Monograms .... 

Moss (sea) ig 

Moss (wood) .... 3 
Music I 

Nails 3 

Names (authors') . . 
Names (of books read) i 
Names (Christian) . 
Names (of legal holidays) i 

Napkins 2 

Neckties . . . 
Needles . . . , 
Newspaper covers 
Newspaper scraps 
Newspapers . . , 
Nickels ..... 



68 

I 

10 



9 

I 

136 

3 

I 
I 

10 
10 

5 

58 

7 



24 



2 




I 


I 


I 




I 


9 


5 


4 


I 





Nuts (Chinese) 
Nutshells . . 



Oak balls 
Oil cans 
Opals 



Padlocks 

Paints . . 

Pans . . . 

Pant guards 

Paper articles 

Paper (colored) 

Paper (tissue) 

Papers (French) 

Papers (perfect) 

Papers (school work) 

Papers (Sunday school) 

Peas (wild) 

Pebbles . . 

Pencils . . 

Pennies . . 

Pens . . . 

Periwinkles 

Pets . . . 

Photographs 

Pictures 

Pictures (kodak) 

Pieces for quilts 

Pieces of calico, cloth, 

velvet 
Pigeons 
Pinks . . 
Pins . . . 
Pins (hat) . 
Pins (scarf) 
Pins (stick) 
Plants . . 
Poems . . 



Boys 


Girls 


I 




I 




I 




2 






I 


I 




I 




I 




I 






I 


I 


10 


2 


4 




I 


I 




I 


5 


I 


7 


2 




15 


41 


2 


6 


I 


5 




3 


I 






3 


8 


25 


58 


132 


4 


13 




14 


6 


no 


25 


8 


I 




ID 


31 


2 


3 


I 






6 


7 


19 


2 


23 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



213 



Boys Girls 

PolHwogs 2 

Postal cards .... i 

Posters 2 

Postmarks 2 8 

Programmes (theater, 

dance, etc.) .... 4 5 

Puzzles 2 4 

Quartz 2 

Rabbit ears .... i 

Rabbits 27 12 

Rags 2 16 

Rats (white) .... 6 i 

Red-headed girls counted i 

Ribbons 8 58 

Ribbons (men-of-war) . i 

Riddles 3 

Rings 3 

Rocks 67 53 

Rose petals .... 4 

Rubber (sheet) ... i 

Rubbers i 

Sachet bags .... i 

Sacks 5 I 

Sayings (of all descrip- 
tions) 6 

Sayings (witty) ... 2 7 

Seals 3 

Seeds 6 8 

Shark eggs .... i 

Shells 113 223 

Shoes (old) .... i 

Shot I 

Silkworms 2 2 

Skeletons i 

Skins 3 

Skins (rattlesnake) . . i 



Boys Girls 

Sloyd models . . . , 1 1 

Sloyd sewing .... 4 

Snake eggs .... i i 

Soils I 

Songs I 16 

Souvenirs 3 14 

Spiders i 

Spools 18 22 

Spoons I 15 

Stamps 365 240 

Starfish 2 

Sticks I 

Stingaree stings ... i 

Stones ...... 43 26 

Stories ...... 2 5 

Strings 6 23 

Tags (shipping) ... i 

Tags (tin) .... 2 

Tags (tobacco) . . . 32 10 

Teeth (cats') .... i 

Thread i 

Tickets 2 i 

Tiles I 

Time-tables .... i 

Tin I 

Tintypes 2 

Toads I 

Tobacco sacks ... i 

Tools 4 

Tops 38 3 

Toys 4 I 

Trade-marks (soap, etc.) 2 2 

Trees 3 

Turtles 10 i 

Valentines i 3 

Vases 3 

Vegetables 3 



2 14 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Boys Girls Boys Girls 

Wagon wheels ... i i Weapons ..... i i 

Walnuts I Woods 15 3 

Wampum 3 Woods (petrified) ..32 

War (pieces about) . i Wrappers (fruit, yeast, 

War relics i etc.) i 3 

Water (colored) ... i 

Water colors .... 2 Zoological specimens . i i 



Prominent Collections 

Certain collections stand out much more prominently than 
others, especially cigar tags, stamps, birds' eggs, marbles, and 
shells. These are prominent among both boys and girls, though 
all but shells much more so among the boys. Certain collec- 
tions rank high, but more particularly among the girls, as 
picture cards, pictures, buttons, pieces of cloth, silk, etc., 
dolls, paper dolls. Then follow some, as books, rocks, leaves, 
flowers, ribbons, and others, which have a fair following. The 
remaining classes of collections were made by only a few 
children, and ninety-seven kinds were made by only one child 
each. Table V gives a list of the more prominent collections, 
with the percentage of boys and girls who were making or 
who had made them. 

It will be seen that the boys concentrate more on a few 
things which run as crazes through very many groups. About 
three fifths of the boys had collected cigar tags and stamps, 
and nearly half of them had collected birds' eggs. Nothing 
attains such widespread interest among the girls, although 
between thirty and forty per cent, of them had collected 
stamps, shells, and picture cards, but a greater number of 
things have considerable runs with them. The table shows 
that only seven things were collected by ten or more per cent, 
of the boys, — cigar tags, stamps, eggs, marbles, shells, but- 
tons, and rocks ; while sixteen things were collected by ten 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



215 



or more per cent, of the girls, — including the same things as 
in the case of the boys, except rocks, — all in the following 
order : stamps, shells, picture cards, cigar tags, buttons, pic- 
tures, marbles, pieces of cloth, etc., paper dolls, dolls, eggs, 
books, leaves, sea mosses, pressed flowers, and ribbons. 



Table V 
Prominent Collections and Proportio7i of Children making Them 



Cigar tags . 
Stamps . . 
Birds' eggs 
Marbles 
Shells . . 
Picture cards 
Pictures 
Buttons . . 
Pieces of cloth, etc. 
Paper dolls 
Dolls . . 
Books . . 
Rocks . . 
Leaves . . 
Sea mosses 



Boys 
Per Cent. 

64 
60 

47 
36 
18 

9 
9 
14 
I 
I 



7 
II 

7 
3 



Girls 
Per Cent. 

24 
39 
13 
22 

36 

33 

22 

23 

20 

17 
16 
12 

9 
II 
10 



Boys Girls 
Per Cent. Per Cent. 



Flowers .... 2 

Ribbons .... i 

Stones 7 

Pebbles .... 2 

White horses counted i 

Picture buttons . . 6 

Coins 6 

Pieces of glass . . 3 

Butterflies .... 5 

Election cards . . 6 

Beads i 

Spools 3 

Badges 4 

Strings .... i 



10 
10 
6 
7 
7 
5 
4 
6 

3 
I 
6 

4 
2 

4 



Collections made by Boys or Girls Exclusively 

Certain kinds of collections, eighty in all, are found only 
among the boys, and certain kinds, seventy-nine in all, only 
among the girls, one hundred and thirty-five kinds being 
common to both. Only boys report such collections as birds' 
beaks, claws, and wings, crabs, dogs, ducks, goats, lizards, 
mice, monkeys, rabbit ears, shark eggs, skeletons, rattlesnake 
skins, cats' teeth, toads, in the way of animals ; brass, bullets, 
cigar tins, clocks, crystals, horseshoe nails, iron, keys, lead, 



2i6 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

nickels, oil cans, padlocks, paints, pans, quartz, tin, tiles, in 
the way of mineral and mechanical miscellanies ; blocks, balls, 
fishhooks, guns, kites, knives, tools, in the line of toys ; war 
relics, pieces about the war, history scraps, names of legal 
holidays, in the historical line ; neckties and scarf pins, in the 
way of toilet articles. Only girls mention autograph senti- 
ments, calling cards, report cards, tally cards, invitations, 
monographs, tintypes, in the line of things savoring of the 
souvenir sentiment ; belts, perfume bottles, bracelets, breast- 
pins, dresses, earrings, fans, jewelry, lace, sachet bags, stick 
pins, in the hne of toilet articles ; painted china, posters, 
paper flowers, jugs, vases, in the decorative line ; bald- 
headed men counted, red-headed girls and hat tips counted, 
and four-leaf clover, in the way of luck collections ; and 
doll belongings, in the way of toys. 

Individuality versus Imitation and Fads 

Without doubt the collecting instinct, if such we may call 
it, is largely dependent on imitation as its tinder. There are 
large blazes that spread rapidly and widely, and small blazes 
that still affect their many. The elements of imitation and 
its specialized form, faddism, are unmistakable. Five sixths 
of the six thousand collections reported were, each, one of 
from ten to three hundred or so similar collections in the 
same town. About one sixth, or a thousand collections, were 
in runs of less than ten in the same town, showing some con- 
siderable individual independence. Ninety-seven children, as 
already mentioned, — fifty-five boys and forty-two girls, — or 
eight per cent, of all the children, made collections reported 
by no other child, — collections that were the product of 
individual fancy. If we found the most widespread crazes 
among the boys, as in the case of cigar tags, so too we find, 
on the other extreme, slightly more marked individuality 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 217 

among them. Some of the collections to which only one 
child stood sponsor were bits of advice, chips, rubber dogs, 
envelopes, knots in ropes, match-box tops, names of books 
read, Chinese nuts, nutshells, oak balls, pant guards, perfect 
papers, rubbers, stingaree stings, time-tables, bills, advertise- 
ment books, merit cards, dragon flies, gopher skins, jack- 
stones, decayed leaves. Christian names, old shoes, soils, shot, 
spiders. 

Distribution of Interests 

While a study of the collections of specific objects may 
show, perhaps, the influence of imitation and circumstance 
and environment, a combination of the heterogeneous varieties 
of collections under a few general headings may show real 
trends of interest and inclinations of mind. For instance, we 
find that the Santa Barbara children, living in daily contact 
with the sea-beach, collected more shells and sea moss than the 
Santa Rosa children, who, living in an interior, agricultural 
valley, depend solely on summer vacations for their acquaint- 
ance with the ocean and its treasures. This is the result of 
environment. But we should hardly conclude anything as to 
general nature interest from these two collections alone. The 
Santa Rosa children may show their nature interest in channels 
more in accordance with their own immediate environment ; 
as, for example, we find bird-egg collections in excess there. 
But a combination of all the nature collections in both places 
will in some measure indicate the comparative place the nature 
interest occupies among other interests. This combination 
I have made, and also a separate grouping of the animal, 
plant, and mineral collections. Under animal collections we 
have birds, birds' eggs, nests, wings, insects, rabbits, pigeons, 
and other animals, silkworms, skins, furs, etc. ; under plant 
collections, ferns, flowers, leaves, woods, moss, seeds, grass, 
etc. ; under mineral collections, minerals, shells, rocks, stones, 



2i8 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

pebbles, flint, quartz, petrified wood, etc. Besides the nature 
collections I have combined the other collections under eleven 
further headings, as shown in Table VI, which gives the pro- 
portion of collections found under each. The percentages are 
made on the whole number of collections. A few of the head- 
ings need illustrative explanation. " Playthings " include dolls, 
marbles, tops, tools, guns, kites, etc. Under "Hterary" are 
placed books, magazines, poems, sayings, stories, etc. ; under 
"historical" there are curios (Alaskan, Chinese, Indian), arrow- 
heads, historical scraps, pieces about the war, etc. " Personal 
adornment " embraces ribbons, hats, stick and breast pins, 
lace, fans, feathers, neckties, dresses, etc.; "sentimental" 
includes locks of hair, autograph sentiments, valentines, sou- 
venirs, etc.; "useful" includes quilt pieces, handkerchiefs, 
spoons, cups and saucers, etc. The " miscellaneous trivial " 
collections are those chiefly of the younger children, of things 
such as bottles, sticks, strings, boxes, pieces of cloth, etc., 
which seem to be more or less purposeless, and which are 
easy to obtain. The second heading is a specific one, — 
"cigar tags, stamps, etc." No general term seems to cover 
these collections. Badges, picture buttons, and others are 
included, and all seem in a way related. These things, like 
the miscellaneous trivial things, are easy to obtain, but at 
the same time there is a sort of official importance about 
them that perhaps appeals ; they have the fascination, too, 
of connection with the outside world, and their quantities 
and currency quality facilitate the interesting transaction of 
trading. 

Taking the boys and girls together it is interesting to notice 
that the nature interest ranks highest. With the boys by 
themselves the cigar-tag, stamp, etc., interest leads the list, 
but this is practically equaled by the nature interest. In the 
nature hne (see Table VII), interest in the animal world far 
exceeds that in the plant and mineral worlds, with the boys. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



219 



Minerals rank next, then plants, while with the girls the order 
is mineral, plant, animal. The next greatest number of collec- 
tions with the boys is in the line of playthings ; then come 
miscellaneous trivial things and pictures ; literary and histor- 
ical interests follow with modest steps. With the girls the 
nature interest ranks higher than that in cigar tags, stamps, 
etc. Miscellaneous trivial things come next, then pictures 
and playthings, followed by the other classes in much less 
degree. Boys exceed girls greatly in the cigar-tag, stamp, 
etc., collections, considerably in the nature collections, and 
very slightly in the historical collections, while girls exceed 
boys in the other classes except in playthings, where both 
have an equal interest. The greater interest of girls is most 
marked in picture, literary, and personal adornment collections. 
In the subdivisions of nature collections boys exceed girls only 
in the animal collections. 

Table VI 

Distribution of Interests shown by the Relative Proportion of 
Various Groups of Collections 



Collections 



Of all 
Children 



Per Cent. 



Nature 29. 

Cigar tags, stamps, etc 24. 

Miscellaneous trivial 12. 

Playthings 12. 

Pictures 10. 

Literary 3. 

Historical 2. 

Personal adornment 3. 

Sentimental 1.3 

Useful 1.3 

Luck I. 

Unclassified 1.4 



Of Boys 
Per Cent. 

32.4 

33-8 

8 
II 

6 

2 

3 
I 

7 

6 

8 

1.7 



Of Girls 
Per Cent. 

26. 
16. 

15- 
12. 

13- 
5- 
2. 

5- 

2. 

2. 

1-5 

i-S 



2 20 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Table VII 
Distribution of Nature Interest 

Boys Girls 

Collections ,, ^ r, ^ 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Animal .... 17.6"^ 6) 

Plant .... 4.9 ^32.4 9 ?• 26 

Mineral .... 9.9 j 11) 

tJ Age Distribution of Interests 

Some of the collections are found at all ages, beginning in 
childhood and lasting on into adolescence. Others show an 
especial prominence at certain ages. We may notice the age 
distribution of a few of the more prominent collections. 

The marble collection begins at least by six years, with a 
small number of followers, and reaches its height from seven 
to ten years, but especially at eight and nine years. After 
this age it declines, and from thirteen years on plays a small 
part. Stamps hold their own from seven to fifteen years, 
declining thereafter. The prominent ages are from nine to 
fourteen years. Collections of cigar tags are rather full- 
fledged at as early an age as six years. The craze increases, 
reaching its greatest intensity at twelve years, and then dimin- 
ishes, dying out practically at sixteen years. This collection is 
prominent through a greater number of years than any other 
collection. The bird-egg fever begins mildly at seven years 
and increases, reaching its height from twelve to fourteen years. 

The greatest intensities of these four collections seem to 
follow one another like the crests of succeeding waves. The 
marble crest, at eight and nine years, is followed by the stamp 
crest from nine to eleven years ; then comes the cigar crest at 
eleven and twelve years, and then the bird-egg crest from 
twelve to fourteen years. The cigar-tag craze remains highest, 
the stamp craze next highest, through all ages. The marble 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 22 1 

line of interest and that of birds' eggs cross between eleven 
and twelve years and supplement each other. 

With the girls the interests in stamps, cigar tags, and birds' 
eggs follow about the same lines as with the boys, reaching 
their heights a little earlier if anything, while the greatest 
interest in marbles comes a year or so later. 

Noticing now other nature collections besides birds' eggs, 
we find that rocks are about the first to appear upon the scene. 
The little child of four seizes upon crude, irregular bits, lumps, 
and masses. Beauty, form, and color seem to play little part 
at first. The collecting of rocks continues until about ten 
years, and in the latter part of this period is largely superseded 
by the collecting of smoother stones, often " colored stones " 
and " pretty stones." In contrast with crude rock lumps, the 
collection of pebbles begins also at three or four years and 
lasts about the same length of time. Leaves have their 
dominant period before ten years, while flowers, sea mosses, 
and shells come especially between eight and eleven years, 
chiefly with the girls, and butterflies at this age with the 
boys. Spontaneous nature interest, as far as collecting goes, 
seems to be especially from eight to eleven years. Birds' eggs 
are about the only nature collection that continues to show 
any prominence in adolescence. 

The collection of miscellaneous trivial things — buttons, 
spools, strings, glass, beads, pins, broken dishes, etc. — begins 
at about three or four years of age and lasts to about seven or 
eight years. The collection of picture buttons is an adolescent 
affair, together with badges. Doll collections, beginning at three 
or four years, reach their height at nine or ten years, while those 
of paper dolls are strongest a year or so later. The collection 
of pieces of cloth follows the trail of the doll interest, and is 
superseded in early adolescence by that of ribbons. Picture 
cards rage from four to eleven years of age. Pictures have two 
periods, — the childhood period of scrapbook pictures up to 



2 22 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

nine or ten years, and the adolescent period of better pictures 
from twelve years on. The interest in books begins at about 
eight years and continues through adolescence. The "luck" 
interest is from eight to twelve years. The "historical" interest 
comes from eight to thirteen years, continuing into adolescence. 

\ Stages of Development in the Child 

Looking now at the age progress from the standpoint of the 
child rather than from that of the various collections, we may 
combine the prominent interests of each age and note certain 
well-marked stages of development in the collecting mania. 
Up to eight years of age the collecting impulse is crude, 
groping, undirected. Collecting at this period seems to be an 
instinct rather than an interest. Things are collected which 
are absurd, valueless, trivial, mechanical, scrappy, simple, and 
easy to lay hands upon. There are bottles, boxes, pins, clothes- 
pins, strings, sticks, matches, buttons. The crudest nature 
collections come at this age, — acorns, rocks, pebbles. Things 
which are purposeful at this age are really possessions rather 
than collections, as toys, dolls, doll belongings, scrapbooks, etc. 

Following the childhood period is what we may call the pre- 
adolescent period, from eight to eleven or twelve years. Here 
collections reach their height in quantity and genuineness. 
The crude instinct seems to develop into a more conscious 
interest. There is more interest in the things themselves, as 
well as in the collecting of them. The interest is more directed, 
more purposeful, answers the call of inner needs more strongly. 
On the other hand, we find the imitative element very strong 
at this period. On the side of " inner need" we notice that the 
play interest reaches its height here, as shown in the marble, 
doll, etc., collections ; and also the nature interest is more 
prominent at this age than at any other, shown in the collec- 
tions of flowers, stones, mosses, butterflies, shells, eggs, etc. 
On the side of " imitation " we find the cigar-tag and stamp 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 223 

crazes more widespread at this age than earHer or later. At this 
age, too, the " possession" idea of childhood seems to develop 
into love of quantities. The largest collections come now. 

Then follows the adolescent period from about twelve years 
on, a period not so much of interest in the things collected, not 
so much of large crazes and widespread imitation and love of 
quantities, as a period of social associations, a period of fad 
and fashion on smaller scales. The pre-adolescent child is a 
spontaneous naturalist : he gathers in his quantities. The 
adolescent, entering into his heritage of logic and reason and 
understanding of relationships and of cause and effect, passes 
out of the " naturahst " stage ; but at the same time he does 
not seem to develop spontaneously into the later scientific 
stage of digestion and classification and explanation in con- 
nection with his collections. Scientific development at this 
age, when the individual is less the product of the race and 
more susceptible to the influence of environment, especially of 
human environment, needs direction and encouragement, if it 
would continue in its normal path. We should naturally expect 
collecting, which before adolescence has been more or less of 
an end in itself, now, if carried on, to be used as a means, as 
a handle, to higher scientific interests. But such does not 
prove the case. For want of direction the collecting impulse 
in reality continues into adolescence as a vestige, as it were, a 
remnant, of the real instinct. It dribbles off into sentimental 
lines, as in the collection of party souvenirs, theater pro- 
grammes, etc. ; and into social fads, as in the collection of 
spoons, hatpins, etc. The spontaneous nature interest largely 
dies out, except in the case of birds' eggs, where other in- 
stincts, as the roaming and hunting, continue to supply incen- 
tive. The stamp and cigar-tag interests, which continue, are 
now closely associated with the passion for trading. 

But while, in general, collecting in adolescence lingers as a 
degenerate form, as it were, or as a cat's-paw for other 
passions, as the sentimental and social, the hunting and the 



224 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

trading, we still find that it does continue as a real and 
genuine interest in two lines, the literary and the aesthetic. 
The collecting interest is a beginning interest in any subject. 
Logical and analytical interest comes later. Now, in the child 
as in the race, the nature interest develops earlier than the 
literary and aesthetic, and hence it is natural that the collect- 
ing period in the former line should normally precede that in 
the latter lines. The literary and aesthetic interests, beginning 
largely in adolescence, are initiated by a collecting stage. So, 
here, collections of books, pictures, etc., come normally, and 
true appreciation of them follows later. As a pedagogical con- 
clusion we may here suggest that while nature collecting 
should be followed in adolescence by more analytical work, 
literary and aesthetic work, on the contrary, may begin in early 
adolescence with the encouragement of this very collecting 
instinct. 

Methods of obtaining Collections 

The children were asked to tell how they obtained their vari- 
ous collections. The data given here are from the Santa Rosa 
children only. The methods of getting collections simmer down 
to a few. The things were found or hunted for by the children 
themselves, that is, obtained by their own exertions, were given 
to them, were traded for, were bought or won. Table VIII and 
Chart I show the relative proportion of the methods given. 

Table VIII 
Methods of obtaining Collections 

Boys' Methods Girls' Methods 
Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Finding 39 36 

Given 26 48 

Trading 16 6 

Buying 13 9 

Winning 4 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



225 



Chart I 
Methods of obtaining Collections 



Boys, 
Girls,. 



Finding 
Given 
Trading 
Buying 

Winning 



With the boys the chief method of getting their collections 
is by their own exertions, finding them, or hunting for them. 
Then follow "given," " trading for," and "buying." "Win- 
ning " is insignificant and applies practically only to marbles. 
Nearly half of the methods mentioned by the girls came under 
the head of "given." Then follow "finding," "buying," and 
" trading," the latter two being comparatively unimportant. 
The boys exceed the girls somewhat in finding and hunting, 
and considerably in trading and buying. The girls exceed the 
boys very greatly as passive recipients of outside assistance, in 
having their things given to them by brothers, sisters, parents, 
uncles, aunts, and friends. But this excess of passivity on their 
part is not balanced by any special decrease in the method of 
finding, but it rather balances the excess of trading, buying, 
and winning among the boys. 

These different methods vary somewhat with the different 
ages of the children. For boys we find that the prominent 
ages for being given their objects are seven, eight, and nine 
years, after which there is a general decrease in this method. 



2 26 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The prominent age for finding and hunting immediately follows 
the more passive period and comes at nine and ten years. The 
"given" and "finding" are equal just before nine years, the 
latter waxing greater at that time and continuing so through- 
out. From eleven years on, the " finding " continues rather 
evenly, but is less than before on account of the rise of the 
buying and trading tendencies. The prominent ages for buy- 
ing and trading follow next after those for finding, and are 
from eleven on through adolescence. The winning tendency 
maintains a humble but even course. 

The greatest activity among the children in obtaining their 
collections by their own exertions comes in the pre-adolescent 
period, which has already been noticed as the age of greatest 
intensity and genuineness of interest in collections, and also 
as the age of greatest interest in nature collections. With 
adolescence the commercial spirit comes in to mar the nat- 
uralist spirit. 

I give some of the responses of the children to the question, 
How did you obtain your collections ? The first one is very 
typical of the younger children. 

F., 9. My cousin gave me my paper dolls. My aunt gave me my 
box of shells. My papa and mamma gave me my picture cards and 
scrapbooks. And my grandma sent me my rocks. And whenever I 
find a pretty rock I take it home. 

M., 10. In collecting cigar rings it is very hard to find many good 
ones, because most every boy is collecting them, but in San Francisco 
you can find a great many, but still the boys collect them. 

M., 10. I got my marbles in playing for them and bought a few. 

M., 10. I started to count white horses when I was eight years old 
and ended when I was nine. It brought me good luck. I got to go to 
a show. 

F., 12. I obtained mystam.ps in several different ways, hunting for 
them myself, buying them, getting friends to collect for me, and trading 
with other people. I have about 600 varieties and 1000 stamps. 

F., 13. I asked my friends to get me all the cards they could, and if 
I happened to get two of a kind I traded with some one. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 227 

F., 13. Buttons are very foolish and easy things to collect, but I 
had the craze as most girls do. I had my grown friends give me all 
the odd ones they had in their button baskets. 

The replies in regard to the nature collections are the 
fullest and most enthusiastic, especially in the case of birds' 
eggs, and often give additional information about the objects 
collected. 

F., II. I hunted for sea mosses along the seashore, and then I 
wet it and put it in the sun to dry. The sea moss grows on rocks out 
in the ocean. When there is a storm it breaks the sea moss off the 
rocks, and it floats in to the shore. 

F., II. I hunted for shells on the seashore. There are many differ- 
ent kinds of shells, and some are very pretty. There are two kinds 
called rice shells and coffee beans. You find these in little alcoves 
where the water is always washing up on the sand. 

M., Grade VI. Butterflies are quite hard to get. Sometimes when 
standing in the yard I would see a butterfly, then I would take my 
hat off and throw it at the butterfly, and that would scare it. Then I 
would chase it around the house a few times, then the butterfly 
would start off in a different direction and probably go over a swamp, 
and then I would wade through and get my feet wet rather than 
let the butterfly go. Sometimes I would run after them three or four 
hours. 

M., 15. I used to live on a ranch in Colusa County. I had about 
15 quails' eggs. These the men who worked for my father would bring 
in in haying season. The quails would build their nests in the shocks 
where the men would find them. I had some doves' eggs ; these I would 
find on the ground after the hay was cut. I had some small owls' eggs 
and linnets'. The swallows made their nests in the Cottonwood trees 
that grew around the house. 

Only two or three children suggest qualms of conscience in 
collecting birds' eggs. 

M., 13. I think I like to collect birds' eggs better than anything 
else. But I think it is not right to take our songsters' eggs. 

F., 13. I started to collect birds' eggs, but when I saw how badly 
the birds wanted them I would just climb down that tree and up the 
next, where the same performance was apt to occur, and so I failed. 



228 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Motives for Collecting 

The children give a variety of reasons as to why they made 
their collections, as shown in Table IX. They collected because 
others were collecting, because an older brother or sister, or 
Johnny Jones, or the "other boys," were collecting, that is, as 
a matter of imitation or fad. 

M., 9. I began to collect cigar tags because I saw the other boys 
collecting. 

M., II. As all the other boys were collecting stamps I thought that 
I would get a collection of them, just for the fun of collecting. 

M., 10. I got birds' eggs because my relatives got them. 

F., 13. The reason why I collected the dolls was because it was a 
fashion to play with them and have as many different kinds as possible, 
and I had to follow the fashion, and because I considered it great fun 
to play with them. 

F., 13. I suppose my weakness or craze (in regard to buttons) was 
because I am a girl and all girls are afflicted with it sometime during 
their life. 

The influence of others is sometimes in the way of rivalry 
rather than mere imitation. 

M., 9. I started to collect cigar wrappers because my chum started 
and I wanted to beat him. 

M., 12. I began collecting cigar wrappers because I saw another boy 
collecting, and so I thought I would see if I could get as many as he had. 

F., 13, Cigar rings, I am ashamed to say, I commenced collecting 
because a girl I knew and did not like had 500 or more different kinds 
and I wished to get ahead of her, and I did. 

The interest in quantity, in numbers, is very great. To get 
as many as possible possesses a great attraction. Interest in 
quantity far outweighs interest in kind. 

M., II. I thought I would collect election cards to see how many I 
could get. 

F. I wanted to see how many cigar wrappers I could get in three weeks. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 229 

There is some interest, however, manifested in kinds, in 
varieties, as well as in mere numbers. 

M., II. I thought I would collect buttons and birds' eggs to see 
how many different kinds I could get. 

F., 16. I commenced my collection with the purpose of seeing 
how many different kinds I could obtain, and because I am interested 
in them. 

Many vague reasons are given by the children, showing a 
more or less purposeless and nebulous state of mind. They 
"just wanted to " ; they collected "just for fun " ; they had a 
"good start" or an accidental start; they thought it was 
"nice"; some one suggested the idea; the things were "easy 
to get"; or they accumulated in some way or other. Some of 
the children give no reason ; others say they " don't know 
why." All these replies I have classed in the table under the 
head of " Indefinite." 

M., 9. I just collected shells for fun. I just collected stones 
for fun. 

M., 10. I found two nests with eggs, and I thought if I was started 
I might as well collect, so I did. 

M., 10. A boy said to me why didn't I get some pigeons. So I 
asked my father, and he said Yes, and I made a house and collected 
pigeons. 

F., 13. I do not know why I commenced collecting dolls, probably 
because I am a girl. 

Some collect with the idea of enjoying their collections in 
some way, of using them, of playing with them, or for the 
pleasure of looking at them. 

M., 8. Marbles I began to collect because it would be fun playing 
with them. 

M., 12. History scraps, puzzles, games, I got to play with on rainy 
days. 

M., 12. Pictures of ships and famous men I got just to keep and 
look at. 



230 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Besides the enjoyment of the objects collected there is pleas- 
ure in the mere collecting, in the activity as a pastime. 

M., 12. I got birds' eggs just to pass away the time. 

Differing from the use or enjoyment of the collections is 
the more intellectual interest in them and desire to study them. 
The curiosity interest may be included under this head. 

M., II. I collected my minerals because I liked to take an interest 
in them. 

F., 10. I liked to collect polliwogs because I tried to find out all 
about them and see them turn into frogs. 

The interest in the objects collected is sometimes an aes- 
thetic one. The beauty of the object attracts. 

M., lo. I got pebbles because they were pretty. 

M., lo. I got picture cards in stores because they were pretty. 

The commercial motive appears consciously to some extent. 

M., lo. I collected eggs because I can sell them. In collecting rings 
I most always sell them. I collect stamps because when you get a set 
of them you can sell them for a great deal of money. You can sell 
flint if you chip an arrowhead out of it. 

M., 14. I collect stamps because the stamps that I have collected 
for years are worth very much money. I keep on collecting them now 
because I was offered for my collections twenty dollars, but they are 
worth more. 

M., 13. Collected minerals of attractive form and color to sell as 
souvenirs to summer visitors. 

Objects are also collected as souvenirs, and a few other 
miscellaneous reasons are given, such as for luck, for trading 
purposes, to give to others, to exhibit, to have or keep, for 
school work. 

Table IX and Chart II show the relative proportion of 
these various motives, and differences for boys and girls. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 



Table IX 
Motives for Collecting 



Imitation (because others did) .... 
Rivalry (to get as many or more than others) 
Quantity interest (to see how many) . . 
Interest in kind (to see how many kinds) 

Indefinite 

Enjoyment, use, of objects 

Pastime (pleasure in collecting) .... 

Interest in objects collected 

^Esthetic attraction of objects .... 

Commercial motive 

Souvenir interest 

Miscellaneous 



Boys' Motives 

Per Cent. 

29 

2 

20 

3 



231 



Girls' Motives 
Per Cent. 

25 
4 

IS 

6 

6 
10 

3 

9 

8 

2 

5 

7 



Motives for Collecting 
Chart II 



Imitation 

Rivalry 

Quantity interest .... 

Interest in kind 

Indefinite 

Enjoyment, use, of objects . 

Pastime 

Interest in objects collected 
Esthetic attraction of objects 
Commercial motive . . 
Souvenir interest .... 
Miscellaneous 



Boys- 
Girls- 



Imitation looms up as the strongest influence in setting the 
collecting instinct in action. Then follows the interest in 
quantity, in numbers, in large possession. In contrast with 



232 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

imitation, or doing as others do, rivalry, or doing more than 
others do, seems to hold a comparatively small place ; and in 
contrast with interest in quantity, interest in variety, in kind, 
is insignificant. The interest in kind and the genuine inter- 
est in the objects themselves approach most nearly to the 
conscious scientific attitude. The considerable percentage of 
indefinite reasons given seems to suggest the instinctive side 
of the collecting interest. Some start, some suggestion, some 
idea perhaps not remembered or known, supplies the incentive 
to an instinct that seemingly requires very little inducement to 
call it forth. 

Some sex differences may be noticed. Boys yield slightly 
more to the imitative influence than girls. This has been 
already shown in the record of their collections by the fact 
that they exhibit more widespread crazes. As imitation takes 
on the character of faddism in adolescence, the girls give this 
motive oftener than the boys. Boys, too, exceed slightly in 
the love of quantity and large possessions. This is shown also 
by the fact that their collections are carried to a far greater 
extent than those of the girls. They often collect thousands 
of objects, while girls are content with hundreds. Girls show 
somewhat more maturity in their greater interest in kinds and 
in the objects collected. Without doubt the interest in kind is 
larger for both boys and girls than is here represented. It is 
less of a conscious interest, and at the same time it is an 
interest in quantities of kinds, which is not very different from 
interest in quantities of objects. In the commercial motive 
boys outrun the girls, while the girls balance their lack in 
this line by a disinterested pleasure in the aesthetic and sen- 
timental attractions of their collections. 

Certain motives are more dominant at some ages than at 
others. Imitation is given as a motive by boys chiefly before 
adolescence, and by girls chiefly during adolescence where 
it takes on the character of faddism. Interest in quantity 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 233 

comes chiefly from ten to twelve years, before adolescence. 
Rivalry is scattered along, but does not appear before nine 
years of age, and is, perhaps, a trifle the strongest just before 
adolescence. The motive of enjoyment and use appears 
largely in the ten-to-twelve period. The scientific, the aes- 
thetic, and the commercial interests come principally in ado- 
lescence. The indefinite motives appear to a great extent 
before eight years of age. 

' Summarizing, we find childhood the period of Wind yield- 
ing to instinct ; the preadolescent years, from nine or ten to 
twelve, the age when imitation, competition, interest in quan- 
tity, and enjoyment of the objects collected act as motives. In 
adolescence come faddism and also the commercial, aesthetic, 
sentimental, and scientific interests. 

Arrangement of Collections 

A study of the arrangement or classification children 
make of the contents of their collections shows that they 
are in the stage of the naturalist rather than of the scien- 
tist. There is comparatively little classification of objects 
according to any scientific basis, that is, according to variety 
and kind. The large majority of the collections are simply 
"kept together" with more or less care. They may be in 
"no order," just "mixed together," "arranged any way," 
kept " in a pile," or, as may be stated more definitely, 
they may be kept in the barn or the shed, in a drawer, a 
box, bag, envelope, book, trunk, pocket, basket, bottle, or 
can, on a shelf, or fastened on cloth, paper, ribbons, or on 
a string. 

There are many evidences of care if not of arrangement. 

M., 10. I had my birds' eggs in a cigar box. It is filled with saw- 
dust. Sawdust is very soft and will not break the eggs. The eggs are 
very tender. I think that the humming birds' eggs are tenderest. 



234 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The first appearance of classification is on the basis of size 
or color, or both. Butterflies may be arranged according to 
color, eggs according to size or color. 

M., 9. I put the birds' eggs in a glass box, large eggs in the bottom 
and small ones on top. 

M., 9. The cards I put in my scrapbook, small ones on one page 
and large ones on another. 

There is some classification of objects according to kinds, 
but this does not imply much knowledge of varieties. 

M., 13. When I got birds' eggs I went to work and got a paste- 
board box about three inches deep, one foot wide, two feet long, to put 
them in. Then I got some long strips of pasteboard and fenced off 
one kind of eggs from another kind ; then I put in these places cotton 
so the eggs would n't break. 

Then there are miscellaneous methods of arrangement, 
for example, according to age (as magazines or theater pro- 
grammes), according to beauty, difficulty of getting, value, 
rarity, shape, alphabetical arrangement, or some arbitrary 
arrangement, as in rows. 

F., 13. My minerals I arrange in a cabinet in whatever way they 
look the best. 

M., 9. I put my cigar wrappers in an old composition book, and 
instead of putting them in rows I would make a star. 

M., 12. History scraps I put in books according to the way they 
fit in. 

F., 12. Arranges shells and pebbles in a cabinet to show them to the 
best advantage. 

In some cases the objects collected are used for decorative 
purposes, perhaps hung on the wall or from the ceiling, as pic- 
tures, picture cards, badges, feathers, nests, antlers, strings of 
eggs, buttons, etc. 

Table X and Chart III show the relative proportion of the 
various methods of arrangement. 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 235 

Table X 
Arrangement of Collections 

Boys' Methods Girls' Methods 
Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Things kept together (no special order) . . 80 80 
Classification according to color, size, or both 

(size predominating) g 6 

Classification according to kind 8 5 

Miscellaneous arrangements i 4 

Decoration 2 5 

Chart III 
Arrangement of Collections 



No special order . 
Accord'gto color, size 
According to kind . 
Miscellaneous . . 
Decoration . . . 



Girls. 



There is very little spontaneous classification. This is 
natural, as quantity is evidently more interesting than kind. 
Throughout all ages the care of collections, the simply keeping 
them together, far outweighs any classification or arrangement 
of them. This is the only method up to nine years of age, when 
there is a small proportion of miscellaneous arrangements 
and of classifications according to color and size, with some 
few instances of classification according to kind. But these 
arrangements and classifications appear chiefly after eleven 
years of age. Decoration comes in chiefly from fourteen 
years on. Boys show more sense of classification than girls, 
and girls exceed in decorative and miscellaneous arrange- 
ments. Boys and girls show the same large proportion of 
" no special order." 



236 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

To summarize the facts which this study seems to indicate, 
we find : 

1. The collecting impulse is practically universal among 
children. 

2. It is an impulse of great strength, leading the child gen- 
erally to make collections along several lines. It has its rise 
in early childhood, develops rapidly after six years of age, 
and is strongest from eight to eleven years of age, just before 
adolescence, the greatest number of collections per child 
occurring at this time, after which it declines in intensity. 

3. A remarkable variety is shown in the kinds of things 
children collect. What they collect seems to be largely the 
result of circumstance, environment, suggestion, or imitation, 
but to collect something seems to be the part of instinct. 

4. Certain collections are very prominent and have a wide- 
spread following, showing the part imitation plays as incentive 
to the collecting instinct. The imitative influence is strongest 
in the preadolescent years, while in adolescence a specialized 
form of imitation appears in the way of faddism. 

5. Certain inherent interests, however, are shown by group- 
ings of the various collections. Of these the nature interest 
appears to be strongest. The next greatest number of collec- 
tions is in the line of stamps, cigar tags, etc. ; then come the 
trivial childish collections of sticks, glass, buttons, etc., and 
the collections ministering to the play interest ; and then those 
pertaining to the aesthetic interest. Collections along literary, 
historical, sentimental, commercial, useful, and " luck " lines 
are comparatively few. 

6. The collecting impulse shows a certain trend of develop- 
ment in its character. In childhood there appears the crude 
instinct to collect anything, however trivial, — anything sim- 
ple and easy to obtain. In the preadolescent years the collect- 
ing interest reaches its height in genuineness. Interest in the 
things collected is here strongest. At this age nature and 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 237 

play collections are more prominent than at any other age. 
There is also greater susceptibility to the imitative influence 
at this age. In adolescence the instinct declines, and degen- 
erates into a matter largely of fad and fashion, along senti- 
mental and social lines. 

7. In obtaining their collections the young children are 
given their things largely ; the children in the preadoles- 
cent period are most active in obtaining their specimens 
by their own exertions ; in adolescence the commercial spirit, 
as shown in buying and trading, appears as an additional 
factor. 

8. As to motives for collecting, the influence of others, 
shown in imitation and rivalry, appears strongest. Then 
comes the interest in quantity, in large numbers, and great 
possession. The interest in kind and in the things themselves 
as specimens is small. Other motives also appear, such as 
the enjoyment and use of the objects collected, the pleas- 
ure in collecting as a pastime, the aesthetic and commercial 
attractions of the objects. A considerable proportion of vague 
reasons for collecting is given by the children. 

9. In arrangement of their collections children show very 
little sense of classification. The large majority of children 
keep their objects in no order, simply keeping them together. 
There are some attempts at arrangement, as, for example, 
according to beauty, value, shape, and in arbitrary forms. 
The first classifications appearing after nine or ten years 
of age are on the sense basis of color or size, classifica- 
tion according to kind, what there is of it, coming a little 
later. 

We have made no attempt to go into the psychology of 
the collecting instinct. In the mere calling of collecting 
an instinct, however, we have assumed considerable psychol- 
ogy, perhaps more than is warrantable. But certainly this 
phenomenon is no accidental affair, no merely acquired trait. 



238 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

When we consider its universality, its widespread affection ; 
when we consider its intensity, the number of collections 
children make and the interest they take in them ; when 
we consider the variety of the things collected, showing that 
the mania seizes upon any and practically every outlet imagi- 
nable, and showing, too, that to collect is more important than 
what is collected ; when we consider, moreover, that the phe- 
nomenon has a definite progress, — a rise, a growth and a 
decUne, an age development, — we are inclined not to hesitate 
in calling it an instinct. 

But, at any rate, whatever the psychological interpretation, 
the fact remains that the collecting instinct, passion, or interest 
is wonderfully universal and wonderfully intense among chil- 
dren, and that consequently it may be used to practical peda- 
gogical advantage. 

Again the question may be raised, Admitting that collecting 
is a genuine interest, is it an interest in the scientific sense ? 
The scientific collection is made not for the purpose of ob- 
taining quantity but for obtaining varieties in completeness, 
and for the purpose of classifying those varieties. But chil- 
dren care more for quantity than kind, they desire to possess 
things rather than to illustrate principles, and they show very 
little sense of classification. However, in scientific develop- 
ment there seems to be room for a purely naturalistic stage 
preceding the analytical stage, a stage of going out and 
gathering in before sitting down to staid induction, a stage, 
too, of mere gathering before the stage of searching along 
the line of any hypothesis. Children seem to be in this more 
primitive naturalistic stage, and as in such we must deal 
with them. 

The age at which the collecting interest is of greatest 
pedagogical importance is largely in the preadolescent period, 
before which collecting is more or less a blind, groping, pur- 
poseless instinct, and after which it largely loses its purity 



THE COLLECTING INSTINCT 239 

by being bound up with other associations, but during which 
period it reaches its greatest intensity and genuineness. Here 
we find the greatest reveling in quantity, here the time when 
the instinct acts most easily through the incentive of wide 
imitation, here rivalry comes in to add zest, here the true 
naturahst's spirit of finding and hunting, as opposed to receiv- 
ing or buying, is most prominent, here the beginnings of a 
sense of classification develop. In fact, at this period the 
instinct seems to be at its height. Its tractability, too, through 
the incentive of imitation, makes it most practical now for use 
in education. So much for the period when the collecting 
instinct is most important as an educative channel. What 
content interest of most value appears at this preadolescent 
time ? Here we find the nature interest at its crest, and this 
is the time for sending children forth to gather in nature's 
stores, to let them roam and wander, to encourage their 
naturalist clubs where they may proudly exhibit their collec- 
tions, where they may compare their treasures with those of 
the other children, where they may be stimulated to relate 
how and where they found their specimens and to tell all they 
know about them, not in any methodical way but in their own 
way, where what they have imbibed naturally or with unsus- 
pected stimulus may overflow in the telling. 

As we have suggested before, the naturalistic interest is a 
beginning interest, and the collection passion may be used 
normally as a beginning help in literary, historical, and artistic 
studies in adolescence, in the same way that it may be used 
in nature lines in the preadolescent period. 

Caroline Frear Burk 



240 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Barnes, Earle. " Children's Collections," Studies in Education (edited 
by Earle Barnes), Vol. I, No. 4, pp. 144-146. G. E. Stechert & Co., 
New York, 1 896-1 902. 

Barus, Mrs. Annie Howes. «' History of a Child's Passion," Woman''s 
Anthropological Society, Bulletitt No. 4, Washington, D.C. 

Darwin, Francis. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, pp. 28, 31, 
37. 38, 43. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1901. 

Hall, G. Stanley, and Wiltse, Sara E. " Children's Collections," 
Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. I, pp. 234-237, June, 1891. 

Loti, Pierre. Story of a Child (translated by C. F. Smith). C. C. 
Birchard & Co., Boston, 1901. 304 pages. 

Sisson, Genevieve. " Children's Plays," Studies in Education (edited 
by Earle Barnes), Vol. I, pp. 1 71-1 74. G. E. Stechert & Co., New York. 

Smith, Fred. The Boyhood of a Naturalist. Blackie & Son, Ltd., 
London, 1900. 227 pages. 

Stuart, Mrs. Ruth McEnery. Sonny : A Christmas Guest. The Cen- 
tury Co., New York, 1898. 135 pages. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP i 

The present study is an attempt to investigate the origin 
and nature of the instincts and motives that operate in the 
accumulation of property, and to describe more thoroughly 
than heretofore attempted those mental states arising from 
the consciousness of things owned ; also to indicate the role 
played by property as a mind-developing agent. For these 
purposes the sciences of biology, anthropology, social econom- 
ics, child study, and history furnish analogies and illustrations. 

Biological 

Property, defined biologically, is anything that the individual 
may acquire which sustains and prolongs life, favors survival, 
and gives an advantage over opposing forces. 

What are the conditions and circumstances attending the 
acquisition of property among the forms of animal life ? Some 
of the most fundamental of these are hunger, thirst, cold, and 
the multiplication and distribution of species, any detailed 
consideration of which would lead us far into biological fields. 
A complete history of distribution alone would involve a con- 
sideration of the majority of biological problems. For our 
purposes it will suffice to call attention to a few of the most 
obvious results. 

I. Distribution has subjected innumerable forms to the wide 
fluctuations of cosmic forces. This is notably true of the life 
in temperate zones. Nearly all forms of life in these zones 
(save domestic animals) either migrate, hibernate, or lay in a 
store of food at the approach of winter, — a fact of value for 

1 Reprinted in abridged form from Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. VI, pp. 421- 
470, December, 1899. 

241 



242 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

the present investigation. The ant, bee, rat, squirrel, polecat, 
hamster, mole, not only burrow spacious underground dwellings, 
but also fill them with a store of winter food. Observations of 
these activities are so frequent, and the literature so accessible, 
that to give examples is unnecessary. Many birds also possess 
the hoarding activity, and all are more or less able architects. 
The owl buries its surplus provisions like the dog. The 
shrike, or butcher bird, having appeased his appetite with 
grasshoppers, mice, and small birds, still continues to slay and 
kill. His victims he hangs or rather impales on the thorns of 
bushes or on twigs. A California woodpecker bores holes in 
trees wherein to place his booty. In autumn he may be seen 
pecking away at pines and oaks, and slipping acorns into the 
cavities thus made. 

2. Distribution has caused highly complicated relations and 
interdependencies among all forms of animals, even plants. 
All this has created new instincts and habits, and in some 
cases has modified structure and intensified, if not necessitated, 
the accumulation of property. 

An illustration of multiplication and distribution modifying 
structure and necessitating the accumulation of a special kind 
of material is seen among different species of ants. 

"Amongst the Amazon ants {Formica nifescens), who not 
only do not debase themselves by working, but even have the 
food put into their mouths by their slaves, the jaws have become 
elongated, narrow, and powerful, and project in sharp points, 
very suitable for piercing an adversary's head, but unfit to lay 
hold of food. When one of these Amazons is hungry she taps 
with her antennae upon the head of a slave, who injects food 
from her own mouth into that of her mistress." 

The yellow ant has domesticated the plant Uce (aphides) 
for the milk that they furnish. "As soon as one of those 
new herds is found by an ant, she returns to the nest and 
informs her companions. One or two ants then accompany 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 243 

her to the treasure, which in the future remains, night and day, 
under their watchful care. As the herd increases in num- 
bers additional herdsmen are called into service." The con- 
stant guarding of the aphides is due to the fact that they are 
eagerly sought for by ants from other colonies, and especially 
by the swift-flying ichneumon, which uses the body of the 
aphides as a depository for its eggs. It is observed that when 
one of these flies is seen hovering over the herd, the ants at 
once endeavor to chase her away whenever she alights. In 
addition to slaves and cattle, the products of agriculture as 
well as the grains of uncultured plants constitute a species of 
property prized by the ants of the southern portions of the 
north temperate zone. I need only call attention to the har- 
vesting ant of Texas. Moggridge, one of the earlier scientific 
observers of the harvesting ants of the Old World, writes : 
" I then selected a nest where the coarse and hard rock lay 
much nearer to the surface, barring the downward course of 
the ants and compelling them to extend their nest in a hori- 
zontal direction. Here ... I came upon large masses of seeds 
carefully stored in chambers prepared in the soil. Some 
of these lay in long subcylindrical galleries, and, owing to 
the presence in large quantities of the black, shining seeds 
of amaranth, looked like trains of gunpowder laid ready for 
blasting. . . . On carefully examining a quantity of the seeds 
and minute dry fruits he found more than twelve distinct 
species of plants belonging to at least seven separate families. 
The granaries lay from an inch and a half to six inches below 
the surface and were all horizontal. They were of various 
sizes and shapes, the average granary being about as large as 
a gentleman's gold watch." 

3. Multiplication and distribution have thrown together in 
the same area or in adjacent areas different species and even 
members of the same species whose interests continually clash. 
Witness the extensive warfare among different colonies of ants 



244 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

or the fight to the finish between the rabbit and the comical 
little puffin, when the latter attempts to take possession of the 
rabbit's burrow for breeding purposes, or the terrific battles 
between the male seals for the possession of a nuptial court. 

" The lion lives alone, or at most in a temporary family ; but 
he needs a vast hunting ground. This territory must be well 
furnished with game, and he chooses it himself. Having done 
so, he will allow no intruder to poach there. He has fixed its 
boundaries. . . . If another animal of his own species ventures 
to infringe upon this domain, ... he protests, lays a com- 
plaint against the invader after his own fashion, and, if the 
latter does not attend to him, has recourse to the ultima ratio 
of kings and lions, — a battle." 

" The wandering dogs of Egypt have similar customs ; 
each pack chooses a habitat, and, says an eyewitness, 'Woe 
to the dog that strays into a neighbor's territory. Many times 
I have seen the other dogs fall upon the wretch and tear him 
to pieces.' The pariah dogs of India quarter themselves 
in the part of the town where they are born. Each of them 
has his district, * police fashion,' which he clears of intruders, 
while for his own part he never crosses its boundaries." 

Again, natural history abounds in observations of conflicts in 
bird families while defending their domain and hunting ground. 
More severe and even deadly are they if the contestants are 
flesh feeders or fishers. In these cases ownership in a given 
area as a hunting ground is absolutely necessary to the main- 
tenance of life. 

In October, 1889, the writer [Kline] saw an army of large 
black ants near the banks of the Colorado in Texas, carry- 
ing roundish pieces of leaves cut from the grapevine. The 
army was twelve feet long and eight inches wide. They were 
marching with " closed ranks," and at a distance looked not un- 
like a monster green serpent. I followed this military procession 
with the interest of a schoolboy. The march was brought to 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 245 

a close by the arrival of the ants at their nest. This consisted 
of a mound of earth about four inches high and three feet in 
circumference. Many carried their burdens in at once, others 
dropped them a few inches from the entrance and went in 
without them. I cut open a section of the nest and found the 
leaves in small pockets, though in some places they seemed 
to be scattered without care. Some of the leaves were 
dry and crisp, others damp and covered with fungi, which 
growth I am now persuaded was the object of this vast leaf 
gathering. 

The storing up of honey and pollen by bees for young and 
self is a common observation by every one. Among the fishes 
the stickleback and hassar, sometimes called hardback, of 
tropical America are noted for the elaborate preparation in 
their nest building and for the care they maintain over the 
eggs and young until committed to the water. The nest and 
its contents constitute the only property acquired by these 
species. 

For the purpose of obtaining data a topical syllabus was 
distributed to teachers, students, and others. On this point of 
the property instinct 325 answers were received, of which 145 
were from males and 175 from females. 

While the reminiscences and observations obtained from 
this syllabus offer nothing that is brand-new, they do con- 
tinually remind one of his own experiences ; they tap, as it 
were, the reservoir of the common mind and set flowing afresh 
the stream of life's experiences. And what do we read in 
them .? First, that property getting in childhood is instinctive, 
an activity not to be suppressed or thwarted. What the child 
collects is a matter almost wholly of environment. The intrin- 
sic value of the article plays no role, but collect it must and 
will ; second, that this promiscuous but continuous gathering 
is modified somewhat and directed to the accumulation of 
articles that can be worked upon, articles on which the motor 



246 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

apparatus of the child may repeatedly operate and not unfre- 
quently develop a rude mechanical skill (these mechanical 
and industrial activities appear more or less prominent in the 
years just preceding puberty) ; that at adolescence the desire 
for material inanimate things is transferred to those of the ani- 
mate, social, and spiritual world. Now the friendship, the good 
opinion, the good will, the love, the confidence of and for 
others constitute the world of values. For these things indi- 
vidual life itself is not too dear a sacrifice. The adolescent 
must love and be loved, must have friends and associates. " I 
used to collect picture cards, now I collect photos." " I grew 
tired of monograms, and have instead a fan with my friends' 
names written on it." " I gave up dolls and the like and 
collected napkins and other souvenirs that would remind me 
of stated occasions." 

Childhood wants objects satisfying the senses and the in- 
stinct to have ; adolescence wants friends and society to whom 
it may offer sacrifice. It is the beginning of the operation of 
that universal principle which offers up the best that is in the 
individual as well as his most valued belongings to the wel- 
fare of the species. As the ferment of the adolescent simmers 
down and the possibilities of his future begin to take shape he 
sets himself to accumulating goods and valuables that shall meet 
the drafts upon him at the time when life's stream is broadest 
and deepest, — the period of fatherhood. 

Anthropological 

In order to see the general ideas of the savage in regard to 
property, it is necessary to find how much property the savage 
had, what his relation to this was, how held, etc. Some savage 
peoples, such as those found wandering in the woods of Borneo, 
Forest Veddahs of Ceylon, and others, possess almost nothing. 
In this respect they are inferior to some animals. Others have 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 247 

merely their rude weapons. Of necessity these can accumu- 
late nothing ; as Mr. Keary says : " In order that social cus- 
toms should attain any development, the means of existence 
must be sufficiently abundant and easily procurable to permit 
some time to be devoted to the accumulation of superfluities 
or supplies not immediately required for use. The life of the 
primitive hunter and fisher is so precarious and arduous that 
he has scarcely either the opportunity or the will for any 
other employment than the supply of his immediate wants." 
It is the satisfaction of these wants that measures his desires. 
The little he has is mere physical possession. 

When we do, however, find primitive man holding property, 
it is to a large extent property in common. "A large body 
of facts combines to show that property was a social before it 
was an individual sentiment, and distinction between owners 
was at first assigned to one tribe of gens rather than to an- 
other. The first notions of property seem to be communal." 
" The several forms of ownership tend to show that the oldest 
tenure by which land was held was by the tribe in common." 
Many other investigators have held this view to a greater or 
less degree. They find traces of the system in Europe, Asia, 
Africa, North and South America, Australia, and the Malay 
Archipelago. Everything leads us to believe collectivism was 
at its maximum and individualism at its minimum. The rea- 
sons for this are apparent. First the very weakness of man 
made cooperation, a combining of strength and effort, neces- 
sary. As Topinard says, " Man lives in society because he 
has to do so like many animals." Property thus was acquired 
in common. Furthermore it was necessary to the existence 
of the horde or tribe that it should be at peace with itself, 
— the closer solidarity the greater power. This would tend 
to a common ownership. As long as the savage has food to 
eat and shelter from the cold he was satisfied. We must 
remember that the savage is a being of very limited experience, 



248 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

that his ideas of the relation of things are very vague. He 
has the physique of the man with the mind of the child. His 
conceptions of himself and his own body are weak and unan- 
alyzed. Individual ownership implies that the particular object 
is shut off, boxed up as it were, labeled mine. This is beyond 
the savage. 

This primitive communism gives us a fair index of savage 
character and mind. It is the best of evidence of mental dull- 
ness, physical laziness, and primitive lethargy. It shows that 
the savage had not risen to the level of progression ; it dem- 
onstrates the lack of individuality, of that self-assertiveness 
and push so essential to development. Men living under a 
system of communism are, as Dr. Brinton says, " classified like 
so many bricks." It is primarily a system of monotony re- 
volting to an independent, virile manhood, and to that active 
type of mind which glories in life as a struggle. This regime, 
however, had its use. Long continuance under a communal 
system developed those sentiments of respect for and toleration 
of another which are so essential. Human society is based on 
mutual toleration, on each man's giving up something for the 
good of all. 

It was when man began to get clearer ideas of his own body, 
to distinguish between the self and non-self, that the idea of 
individual ownership became possible. The savage's lack of 
knowledge of the limits of his own self are surprising. 

When man arrived at a clear notion of himself as an isolated 
individual, began to look in upon himself, he must have begun 
to get glimpses at the concept of individual ownership. For 
we find that the concept mine and self-consciousness are mutu- 
ally dependent. Those states which come up into conscious- 
ness one can be aware of, but not unless they are tagged mine 
will there be self-consciousness. It is here where the term 
mine, the conscious idea of ownership, must have originated in 
giving expression to these internal psychic states. The concept 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 249 

mine, then, is the focal point in self -consciousness. In order 
that a person may recognize these parts of himself as parts 
of himself, they must be recognized as his own. Neither mem- 
ory of nor cognition of experiences or psychic states can be 
recognized as being a part of the ego if this concept mine is 
not present in them ; if the individual does not recognize him- 
self as the ow7ier. So it must have been that the idea of indi- 
vidual ownership arose in recognizing internal psychic states, 
together with one's body and bodily feelings as being parts of 
self or belonging to self. 

The earliest forms and usages of individual property show 
there was a sort of transition period ; that the savage could 
not entirely think of external objects as mijte and mine alone, 
unless they had a subjective element or subjective relation. 
Letourneau says : " The first private property was in objects 
forming, so to speak, part of the person, such as weapons and 
ornaments made by the possessor himself, and generally put 
in the grave with him." *' Australians possess for personal 
property the objects attached to their persons, such as arms 
or ornaments in the ear, lips, and noses ; or skins of beasts 
for clothing ; stones laid in baskets woven of bark fastened 
to body of the owner ; personally appropriated by them, so to 
say, incorporated with them. These objects are not taken 
away from them at death, but are burned or buried with the 
corpses. Names are among the primary individual property 
we meet with." . . . " Rude weapons, fabrics, utensils, apparel, 
implements of flint and stone, personal adornments, represent 
the chief items of property in savage life." ... "In primitive 
society property extended to single personal belongings, to 
articles of adornment, to trophies of the chase or war, and to 
tools and weapons." Dr. Rink says that the Eskimo recognizes 
ownership only in weapons, fishing boats, and tools. Von Mar- 
tins, speaking of certain Brazilian Indians, says : " Scarcely 
anything is considered strictly as the property of the individual 



250 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



except his arms, accoutrements, pipe, and hammock. Every 
man claims a right in what he can make." Haddon, in de- 
scribing a stone ax found among the people inhabiting the 
islands about New Guinea, says : ** The value of such an 
object seems to depend on the amount of work required to 
produce it ; thus we arrive at certain primitive ideas. Work 
done gives ownership." 

We see from this that early ideas of individual ownership 
in regard to external things rose out of the idea of work put 
on them. The savage only possessed those things he made 
with his own hands, as his weapons, tools, utensils, etc. These 
things first existed as ideas in his mind, — he thought of these 
in a subjective way as his own. And when these, through the 
molding and forming of material with his own hand and by 
his individual labor, took on external form, it was but natural 
that the idea of individual ownership should extend to them. 
The fact that nearly all objects of personal property are 
attached to body, and the custom of burning, breaking, or 
burying these articles with man at death, is evidence of the 
close relations of the internal concept of ownership and exter- 
nality. Another suggestive fact is that the earliest forms of 
weapons were pushing weapons. This seems to point to the 
belief that the savage considered his weapons almost as a part 
of his body rather than as some external object he could wield. 

This attaching and putting of articles owned on the body 
intensified the feelings of ownership, through the feeling of 
pleasure arising from continual contact, and because of the 
idea of permanence of ownership arising from the feeling that 
articles were safe from danger when on the person. This ele- 
ment of safety played a great part in the savage mind. Can 
we not account for the rise of ornaments in this way } Did 
not the attaching of things on the body for ornament take 
origin originally in this putting things owned on the body } 
Can we account in any better way for some of the absurd 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 25 1 

customs of loading one's body down with trophies, presents, 
weapons, etc. ? That this custom of wearing property pre- 
vailed, resulted from the fact that the savage learned the 
value of individual property in individuating, in marking one 
man off from another. And so ornaments in general may 
have taken rise. 

This whole development of the idea of individual ownership 
in the savage mind but indicates one of the great influences 
property has had in the evolution of mind. As has been 
shown previously, the savage was originally in a state of leth- 
argy. The only incentive to activity was to satisfy bodily 
desires. But when man had the notion of acquiring, in order 
to individuate self, to increase self-importance, when he began 
to realize what individual property could do, life took on a 
different aspect for him. He broke away from his laziness, 
threw off his lethargy. His mind was stirred into activity. 
His desires became more numerous and extended to various 
things. And, above all, the desire for individual property is 
his first great incentive to labor. The effect of all this on 
developing mind can hardly be overestimated. Self -conscious- 
ness, together with all those feelings of pride, emulation, 
rivalry, and competition, arise out of this. Perhaps there is no 
one greater result arising from this than the development of 
attention ; as Ribot says, voluntary attention is the product 
of civilization, and that it is easily shown that before civiliza- 
tion voluntary attention did not exist, and that work is the 
concrete, the most manifest form, of attention. But the ability 
to work has not come without a struggle. For, as Ward aptly 
puts it, " Labor is not the natural condition of man. It must 
have acquired a powerful motive to curb and steady the wild 
and adventurous desires of the human heart and compose them 
to the monotony of toil." This incentive was the desire for 
individual property and the love of power that property brings. 
The labor may have been the enforced labor of women and 



252 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

slaves, but property was its incentive ; and if attention has 
resulted from continued labor, we owe its development origi- 
nally to individual ownership. 

With the idea of individual ownership firmly rooted in the 
human mind, the tendency would be for the individual to claim 
all things he desired. The question now arises, not what are 
the motives for individual acquisition, but what are the motives 
which cause men to respect each other's possessions. If you 
presuppose that the proprietary right is an inherent character- 
istic of mankind, this question of toleration or respect for the 
property of one another is easily done away with. This is 
exactly the view the popular mind and superficial considera- 
tions would assume. Occupancy was possession. Each man 
recognized the natural right of the occupant. This is Black- 
stone's view, that of Roman law, and the view in general. Sir 
Henry Maine shows that this view of the property right being 
inherent in man is unscientific and irrational. Men had to 
learn to respect the rights of one another, and the proprie- 
tary right, as every other such abstract notion, was a growth 
in the mind of man. 

If some right to possess individually did not exist, the idea 
of individual ownership could never have gained strength. 
For to own a thing implies a feeling of permanence in it ; 
that one will possess it for some length of time. As the bulk 
of property was common in savage communities, and as the 
individual property was slightly confused with one's body, the 
idea of respect for possession among one another did not have 
to be very strong. As is natural under these conditions, 
individual ownership only cropped out at first in those things 
which naturally fell to the share of individuals and those 
things which did not interfere with common ownership. 
Among these might be classed presents given to those per- 
forming brave deeds in time of war, trophies taken on the 
field of battle or in the chase, and rewards of bravery, all of 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 253 

which were great stimuH for protecting and looking after 
common interests. Another way private property gained 
admittance was through inheritance. Sir John Lubbock 
thinks that in cases of legal revenge and punishment we can 
trace the origin of private property. He says : " When any 
rules were laid down regulating the amount or mode of ven- 
geance which might be taken in revenge for disturbance, or 
where the chief thought it worth while himself to settle dis- 
putes about possession, and thus, while increasing his own 
dignity, to check quarrels which might be injurious to the 
general interests of the tribe, the natural effect would be to 
develop the idea of mere possession into that of property." 

The reason woman is held as property is due to her phys- 
ical weakness and her peaceful character. As to why she was 
held as private property instead of common, there are several 
reasons. Women were more numerous than men. For while 
men were killed in war, women were held as captives. A man 
could generally have a sufficiency of wives without interfering 
with the interests of others. In addition to this Westermarck 
has clearly shown that among all savage peoples some definite 
marriage relation existed, which would naturally result in the 
ownership of woman being individual. It is readily seen what 
a valuable chattel woman must have been. For all the hard 
work, all the drudgery, she performed. She, too, had to use all 
her ingenuity to provide food for her husband when he returned 
unsuccessful from the chase. If not, she might become a 
victim to his appetite. " Among savages it is really the 
women who perform all the real labor of their societies." 

The growth of agriculture, together with domestication of 
animals, caused a revolution in property and property ideas as 
well as in society. From it resulted the introduction of slavery 
among men, the domestication of animals, abolition of canni- 
baHsm, and the growth of agriculture, requiring more laborers. 
The domestication of animals and the growth of slavery gave 



254 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



rise to a value which could be accumulated and something that 
could be used as a commodity in exchange. Agriculture and 
the domestication of animals, by making means of subsistence 
procurable without cooperation, did away gradually with all 
ownership in common, the idea of proprietary right having 
gradually developed through an ever-increasing individual own- 
ership. The domestication of animals must have had great 
effect on the primitive mind, for here, as Morgan says, was a 
" possession of greater value than all kinds of property known 
previously put together. They served for food, were exchange- 
able for other commodities, were useful for redeeming captives, 
for paying fines, and as a sacrifice for the observance of reli- 
gious rights. Moreover, as they were capable of indefinite 
multiplication in numbers, their possession revealed to the 
human mind its first conception of wealth." This conception 
of wealth has played no mean role in the evolution of mind as 
well as civilization. 

Dress is a class of property which also has had much influ- 
ence on the development of mind. " Dress," says Professor 
Starr, " generally has been developed out of ornament. That 
it has, after being developed, often been turned into a modest 
covering and a protection, is unquestioned." " Ornaments are 
of two kinds, — those directly fixed into the body, and those 
attached by a cord or band. As soon as man hung an orna- 
ment on such a band dress evolution began." Dress had a 
great influence on mind because it is one great means of 
expressing one's individuality by external show, and also 
because of its power in marking off or individuating. The 
only individuality that some people have is that expressed in 
their dress. So it is that, as Professor Starr says, " in look- 
ing over the history of the race, we find many inventions 
have resulted, many discoveries been made, many arts been 
developed, in pursuit of new materials for attire, and general 
intelligence has been increased thereby." 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 255 

In connection with property, especially property as power, 
are found some psychoses of not a little value : obedience to 
command and willingness almost amounting to a desire among 
a mass of people to be led ; the tendency of people to believe 
in and give way to a man who makes large assumptions ; the 
general feeling of contempt for a man who performs manual 
labor, in particular the agriculturist, arising from the time 
when no man who labored was a gentleman ; considering 
wealth instead of merit the mark of superiority ; feelings of 
servility and littleness in the presence of wealth. Pride is but 
a sense of superiority arising from the fact that one owes 
much of value and worth to society and friends. Vanity is the 
same feeling minus any such possessions. 

And it was wealth which, by easing the hard struggle with 
cosmic forces for a few select ones, made possible and gave 
opportunity for the rise of that learning and culture which 
has had such a great effect on the development of mind as 
well as civilization. 

The history of the evolution of culture has been the history 
of the leisure class. The leisure class had its birth with the 
beginning of wealth, and was alone made possible by the estab- 
lishment of ownership. 

In the light of the preceding we cannot but conclude that 
there has been no greater factor than property in broadening 
and developing mind and civilization. 

Ownership in Children 

The study of the child mind in relation to ownership takes 
on an increased interest and value, if its property activities be 
regarded both as recapitulatory of the racial attitude to prop- 
erty and anticipatory of the adult's serious wrestHng with 
property and fortune. Cataloguing the activities under these 
two categories is left largely to the reader. We indicate here, 



256 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

from answers to the questionnaire, the beginnings of the 
sense of ownership and property-getting activities in general 
as found in child life. 

In answer to the request for cases in which a child for the 
first time evinced signs of ownership, 185 returns were 
received, — 93 males and 92 females (ages from 3 months 
to 72 months). These are divided into six groups, — 3 to 6 
months, 7 to 12 months, 13 to 18 months, 19 to 24 months, 
25 to 36 months, 37 to 72 months. The following examples 
are typical. 

First group (J to 6 montJis), jp cases 

F., 4 months. Cries whenever bottle is taken from her. Even if 
bottle was empty, would not let it leave her sight unless given an- 
other. 

F., 4 months. Never showed sense of special ownership until another 
baby was brought to visit her. The second child was given F.'s rattle, 
whereupon F. began to cry and reach for it. 

F., 6 months. In trying to amuse this child I took her rattle. She at 
once stretched out her hands, uttering little sounds as urn., um, — first 
time she had laid claim to anything. 

F., 4 months. Played with a rubber ring. I picked it up ; she began 
to cry and hold out her hands. Put it down and she stopped crying. 
Repeated with same result. 

Second group (7 to 12 months), ^8 cases 

M., 8 months. Was given a go-cart, and after riding in it at different 
times M., aged 7 months, sat in it. M., 8 months, cried, pulled his 
dress and hair until he got it. 

F., 12 months. Was given a little white rocking-chair in which she 
sat most of the time ; would not let any one touch it. 

F., 12 months. Very fond of her cradle, always liked to be in it. If 
she saw any one sitting in it, she would endeavor to pull them away and 
would cry. 

F., 1 1 months. Before she could walk or talk, seemed to think she 
owned her mother's lap, and cried when any one else attempted to 
occupy it. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 257 

Third group (/J to 1 8 months) ^ 2y cases 

M., 13 months. When Edward saw another child sitting in his little 
red chair, he at once wanted to sit in it. He would not sit in his sister's 
chair. 

M., 18 months. Owned a cap. My brother put it on his head. The 
little boy ran to him and cried, "Take that off; that Harry's hat." 

F., 1 8 months. Had a little blanket she would not go to sleep without. 
She always cried, " My blankie, my blankie," till she got it. 

Fourth group {ig to 2^ months), 2^ cases 

M., 20 months. Had been given a great many playthings, but the 
things he seemed really to care for and to owfi were a woolly lamb and 
some building blocks. 

M., 24 months. Given a jumping-jack. He never seemed to make any 
claim to it until one day a stranger said it was his. Immediately he 
declared that it was his. 

M., 24 months. Showed plainly he owned a toy express wagon by 
taking it away from a boy who came to see him, saying, " That 's my 
waggie." 

Fifth group (25 to j6 months), 2^ cases 

M., 36 months. Claimed one of his father's canes as his horse. 

M., 27 months. Had a piece of clothesline which he was very fond 
of. He used to throw it over the back of a chair and play horse with it. 

F., 36 months. When two years old saw a toy kitchen which she 
called a dustpan. From the day she saw it she was never quiet until 
her mother bought her one to play with. 

Sixth group {jy to ^2 months), 10 cases 

F., 48 months. When she was four years old everything that was 
given her she kept in a box placed in one corner of a room. She was 
much displeased if any one should even raise the lid of the box. 

F., 72 months. Owned a ball of which she was very fond. Kept it 
hid where no one could find it. 

Having a place for and hiding articles possessed are the 
common features of this group. 



258 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Our interest in these returns lies in what they suggest as to 
the way in which the property instinct and concept became 
etched so deeply into the mind. 

It appears that those things which give satisfaction to the 
sensory side of the human organism are the earliest to be 
drafted in as property. Gradually objects that may be acted 
upon, that exercise the motor side, are laid claim to. The 
human infant, like the young of all vertebrates, reacts the 
earhest and most vigorously at all those points that give 
information about want-satisfying objects. It goes without 
saying that objects which satisfy these " want points " are the 
ones first claimed. It is not chance, then, that the highest 
per cent, of objects claimed by infants 3 to 6 months of 
age should be those that satisfy hunger or are instrumental 
in doing so. In the second group — 7 to 12 months — objects 
appealing to sight are far in the lead. Objects satisfying 
the sense of touch rank next, followed by those appealing 
to taste and smell (hunger). The eye soon becomes the 
chief mind feeder. Its objects have a permanency essen- 
tial to the growth of the property concept. Objects that 
administer to bodily comforts, as a "special chair," "mother's 
lap," "a carriage," etc., begin to be appropriated at this age. 
Preferring certain spots in exclusion to others apparently as 
comfortable is a widespread animal trait. This is true of 
nearly all domestic animals. The third group — 13 to 18 
months — introduces for the first time articles of motion, 
for example, go-cart, buggy, toy engines, etc., and articles 
of dress. At this age the motor side begins its call for 
objects on which it may operate. In the fourth group — 
19 to 24 months — articles of motion are predominant. 
Articles used in imitation plays come in. The fifth group 
— 25 to 36 months — shows that articles used in imitation 
plays are most frequently claimed and owned. The articles 
appropriated in the last group — 37 to 72 months — are 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 259 

of a miscellaneous character. The most interesting and 
significant fact presented is the effort of the child to hide 
whatever possessed. 

The sense of ownership finds expression in children not 
able to talk in those "expressive" movements of body: of the 
hands, reaching and clasping ; of the feet, kicking ; of the face, 
anger, pleasure, satisfaction ; by crying, laughing, and other 
characteristic sounds common to infants. 

These are the objective facts noted by the observers. Here 
and there we get hints of the child's attitude — consciously 
and unconsciously — toward property. The following facts 
may be noted: (i) In every case, from the youngest to the 
oldest, it was necessary that the child have the article entirely 
to itself ; communism was out of the question. Extreme self- 
ishness seems to be the rule. (2) Generally the child does 
not lay claim to an object until it sees the object in the posses- 
sion of another, or when some one else tries to take the arti- 
cle ; in fact, at this point the sense of ownership first gives 
itself definite objective expression. (3) The extreme forms of 
isolation and exclusion, two fundamental elements in the sense 
of ownership, crop out in the child hiding its possessions. I 
have found no case of hiding articles under four years of age. 
(4) The child may have a fairly clear idea of possessing an 
article himself, while not conceiving the same feelings to be 
present in any other child. 

Here the question may be raised. At what age does the 
child have a clear notion of the concept mine ? It is believed 
that the child under three years has an inadequate knowledge 
of his own body and of self. Up to the second year it does 
not use me or mine, and very probably then does not under- 
stand their significance. To illustrate this, Dr. Ladd one day 
asked a little girl what the /was that loved papa. She seemed 
not to understand for a minute ; then she said, " Oh, now I 
know ; it is my arms, because I hug him with them, and my 



26o CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

lips, because I kiss him with them." Sully says : " In this crude 
idea of self, before the meaning of the / becomes clear, we 
have to suppose that the child does not fully realize the oppo- 
sition of self to not-self, but rather tends to regard himself 
as a kind of thing after the analogy of other objects." In the 
anthropological section of this paper it was maintained that it 
was impossible for the savage to have a clear conception of 
ownership until he had learned the boundaries of his ego, to 
distinguish self from not-self, and the same holds true of the 
child. No being can conceive of an article belonging to him- 
self, if that self is not to some extent known. The conscious 
concept of property and of self thus seems to develop along 
parallel lines. 

In answer to the question regarding children's collections, 
1 88 answers were received — 88 describing females and lOO 
describing males, ages one year to fourteen years. The follow- 
ing articles were collected by i88 children: money, stones, 
blocks, cards, stamps, drawings of engines, marbles, bottles, 
handkerchiefs, spools, pipes, pieces of dress goods, nails, leaves, 
nuts, buttons, strings, insects, butterflies, beetles, pencils, frogs, 
carpenter's tools, garden utensils, flowers, dishes, broken china, 
shells, dolls, ribbon strings, pins, acorns, tin articles, paper dolls, 
old kid gloves, balls, fans, corks, saltcellars, ink bottles, hats, 
cigar pictures, colored glass, seeds, toy boats, knives, keys, 
boxes, colored rags, sleds, wagons. 

The articles that the child collects, as previously shown, 
depend on the environment and home training. The child 
inherits only the activity to collect. To have something, to own 
something, is needed to fill up an empty gap in the child's life. 
The article may be utterly useless : a heap of stones, pieces of 
wood, leaves, old gloves, rotten strings, — things for which the 
child itself could not invent a reason for collecting. The 
treatment of the collection is probably the best evidence as to 
the motive for collecting. It appears that the majority of 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 261 

children from 2^ to 6 years old either neglect their collections 
as fast as made, or hide them, taking a peep at them from time 
to time, but never making any use of them. This period of 
collecting might be termed a purely instinctive one. It would 
be worth some one's time to gather a wide range of data upon 
this one point. Our own returns (188) are inadequate to war- 
rant conclusions. From 6 to 14 years the disposition of the 
articles is indeed varied. They are hidden or forgotten ; traded 
for others ; kept to show playmates ; kept through imitation 
and emulation, in order to get more than some one or any one 
else ; sold for money ; kept to play with ; kept as ornaments, 
as beautiful shells, flowers, etc. ; and kept to work with. 
The motives prompting and controlling the collecting activities 
of the child appear then to be instinctive,^ imitative, emula- 
tive, utilitarian, love of display, and love of the beautiful. 

The most widespread and interesting phenomena connected 
with collecting is hiding the articles. The child takes a keen 
pleasure in having things that it may "use and abuse," hidden 
in some place which no one else knows about. Displaying 
them to friends occasionally is a pleasurable act, but the pleas- 
ure is much sweeter if the articles are produced from quarters 
known only to itself. The love of displaying possessions, there- 
by attracting attention and eliciting praise, is characteristic of 
very young children. Sully thinks love of approbation in the 
child is one way in which self -consciousness is developed. The 
following cases are typical of a number received on this point. 

F., 7. Made a large collection of shells which she kept on a stand in 
the sitting room. She was very fond of showing them, but did not want 
any one else to touch them. 

M., 5. Collects all the spools he can get, makes no use of them, but 
when his mother has company he brings them out to show. 

1 Kleptomania is an abnormal instance of this instinct. The subject can- 
not control his impulse to take any article he sees. He does not care for it 
afterward particularly. He must needs take it to satisfy his impulse. 



262 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

The collecting of money among children is common. This 
perhaps is due as much to suggestion as from any primary 
realization on the part of the child of the value of money. 
Collecting money is common to all ages from one year to 
fourteen years. The per cent, of boys is larger than that of 
girls in 135 cases. 

M., 3. Asked every one who came to the house for money. If they 
gave him a silver piece, his eyes would sparkle and he would say, " That 
is worth something"; but if given a penny, he would look at it and say, 
" Not worth much." Both, however, he would put away and not spend. 

M., 2. My brother began to collect money when about two years old. 
Would ask his father for money and do things to earn money. Would 
not spend a cent, but continually tried to get more. 

It appears that money is not collected with an idea of its 
purchasing power, but rather as something desirable to hoard, 
something not to use but to save. We do not, however, put 
much faith in money collecting and saving as an activity 
reflecting a " money sense," for getting money is a thing which 
parents are constantly suggesting and encouraging in their 
children. 

Interesting in this connection are the money superstitions 
current among children. 

I remember two superstitions about money. One was a pot of gold 
at the end of the rainbow, and the other, if a piece of down from milk- 
weed came to you and you caught it and told it to bring you twenty-five 
cents, it would surely do so. 

I had a superstition about money, and that was, I thought when there 
were bubbles on the coffee, if it was a large circle I was surely going to 
get fifty cents or a dollar, that is, if I could drink it without separating 
it; and if it was smaller, I was going to get a less amount of money. 

If a number of names beginning with the letter m were placed under 
a mossy stone and left there a week, you would find money at the expi- 
ration of that time. 

Very often I would make a hundred marks on a paper, each repre- 
senting a white horse I had seen. I would then place it under a stone 
and expect to find money within a certain number of days. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 263 

One superstition I had was, if a person had white specks on the 
finger nails, one would be rich. Another, that if you had long hair on 
your wrist, you would be rich. 

If the palm of the left hand is itchy, you will receive money. 

If you dream of counting your money, it is a sign of acquiring 
wealth. 

If you found any money and did not keep it, you would not have 
good luck. 

I had great faith in " find a black tin, find a dollar." 

I thought if I got money on New Year's Day, I would get money 
every day in the year. 

One very common superstition was the saying " money " three times, 
every time we saw a star fall. 

If we ever found a horseshoe with any nails in it, we were to 
obtain or receive a hundred dollars for each one. To find a pin with 
the head pointing toward you was thought to be a sign of increase 
in finances. 

We woiald go around and ask each person to bow his head, and when 
we got a hundred crosses on a paper, each cross representing a bow, we 
would put it in the ground and would expect to find money in its place 
after three days. 

One thing impressed upon me very much as a child was that my 
arm being so long was the sign of riches. I knew also that the finding 
of silver money was a warning of coming riches. 

The only superstition I had about money was that some day I would 
be rich because my two front teeth were separated quite a little, and I 
was told that was a sign. 

We asked for a description of a child who wants to own 
everything ; who steals, begs, and cheats to acquire property. 
406 cases are described, — 262 males and 144 females, ages 
from one year to seventeen years. 

Nearly every return gave an instance of a child who wished 
to own property far in excess of his wants or his ability to use 
the same aright. And over 80 per cent, of the 406 cases 
described a child who would beg, cheat, or steal to get the 
coveted article. Value did not seem to be taken into account. 



264 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

They were not regarded by the observers as pecuHar or excep- 
tional children. They would seem to be anybody's children, — 
the average child. The following are typical cases : 

M., 4. Wishes to own everything he lays his eyes on, — cards, 
stamps, bottles, pictures, etc. ; he steals and begs and uses various 
schemes to get what he fancies. Makes no particular use of them, just 
wishes to keep them. 

M., 5. Is fond of slate pencils ; often steals pupils' slate pencils 
when they are not in their seats. When questioned by his teacher how 
the pencils got into his pockets, he answered, " They must fall in my 
pocket." 

M., 5. Frequents our house when we are eating. He will say :" What 
is that } I wish I had some. We never have that at our house, but it 
looks good." 

M., 8. Is always getting things by begging, cheating, and stealing. 
Tells his mother that they were given to him. He begs things for the 
church and keeps them for himself. He tells the neighbors' servants 
that such a boy sent him for his football, and then runs home with it. 

Pedagogical inferences and suggestions are in the main 
patent. In some schools pedagogy is already plying her tools 
to this never-failing ore supply. We venture the suggestion 
that collecting may advantageously be connected with nature 
study, geography, art, etc., making what might be a laborious 
task coincide with a fundamental desire. The child who makes 
collections of insects, birds' eggs, leaves, or flowers translates 
the beauties of nature into terms of self. They become thus 
a part of him, and nature is brought nearer. Emulation and 
rivalry in collecting would help to make the study more easy.^ 
Another fact of not a little value is the habit of neatness, 
arranging by order, giving an idea of system and method, 
which collections bring out in the child. A large per cent, of 
children in the returns were most particular in regard to this. 
The power of observation is trained in the child's always hav- 
ing an eye out for certain things. Furthermore the child in 

1 In some schools this is carried out, and with advantage. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 265 

making collections puts his own labor in the gathering. Hence 
these collections represent his own self. This is why the 
child will consider collections of old stones, or other objects of 
little worth, of much more value often than his brightest and 
most attractive toys. His own labor has given them their 
value. In our anthropological section it was seen that the 
first idea of individual ownership arose in those things in which 
man had put his labor, his inventive genius in making. The 
stamp of his own personality was on them. 

The writers believe that as in labor ownership was con- 
ceived, so in labor are its real sweets to be found ; and that 
ownership in general, which does not result from labor of some 
kind, has an artificiality about it : though it stands for the 
real thing, it is not. It is this artificial notion of ownership 
which has created the idea that manual labor is degrading, and 
which, in fact but a few years back, held that all labor was 
degrading, — beneath a gentleman. 

Here lies the true value of manual training in our schools : 
that the child may learn how much more valuable is the 
article which he had made with his own hands by his own 
labor. It gives a knowledge from whence the sweetness of 
possession derives its source. The technique is of practical 
use, the learning how is valuable ; but much more valuable is 
it for the child to learn the divinity of labor. No one who has 
worked with hammer and saw, and learned how rich in pleasure 
is the possession of an article derived from hard labor, can 
consider work a degradation. It puts the child in sympathy 
with labor and the laborer. Looked at from this point of view, 
no one factor has greater possibilities of developing the child 
than that of manual training. It puts the child in sympathy 
with men. He rubs in large grains of the stuff we call human- 
ity, and for this reason it is essential that the child should be 
allowed to make things he wants, and also that the things 
made should belong to him. 



266 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

We have found that the desire to own is one of the strong- 
est passions in child Hfe ; that selfishness is the rule ; that 
children steal, cheat, or lie without scruple to acquire prop- 
erty ; that they have no idea of a proprietary right. These 
generalizations will hold almost without exception for children 
under five years, for many children under ten, and in some 
cases even up to fifteen years of age. These things are natu- 
ral in the child. Parents as a rule are continually struggling 
to keep them down ; to teach principles of unselfishness ; to 
teach not to lie, steal, cheat, and beg ; to respect the rights 
of others. This method may meet with more or less success. 
The writers of this paper are inclined, from reading over the 
returns and from personal experience, to say less. The problem 
is, What is the right method ? Shall we hold with Calvin that 
the child is naturally a depraved being, and that by hook or by 
crook we must take it out of him, or with Rousseau that by 
nature the child is good, and that nature wills the child to be a 
child before he is a man, and so " let children be children" } 

Do we believe that the child recapitulates the history of the 
race ? If so, we may not be surprised to find the passion for 
property getting a natural one, nor that the child lies, cheats, 
and steals to acquire it, nor that selfishness rules the child's 
actions. Selfishness is the cornerstone of the struggle for 
existence, deception is at its very foundation, while the acquir- 
ing of property has been the most dominant factor in the his- 
tory of men and nations. These passions of the child are but 
the pent-up forces of the greed of thousands of years. They 
must find expression and exercise, if not in childhood, later. 
Who knows but that our misers are not those children grown 
up whom fond mothers and fathers forced into giving away 
their playthings, into the doing of unselfish acts, in acting out 
a generosity which was neither felt nor understood. Not to 
let these activities have their play in childhood is to run great 
risk. It does no good to make the child perform moral acts 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 267 

when it does not appreciate what right and wrong mean, and 
to punish a child for not performing acts which his very nature 
compels him to do is doing that child positive injury. 

During the period of adolescence generosity and altruism 
spring up naturally. Then why try to force the budding plant 
into blossom ? Instruct them by all means, teach them the 
right ; but if this fails, do not punish, but let the child be 
selfish, let him lie and cheat, until these forces spend them- 
selves. Do not these experiences of the child give to man in 
later life a moral virility ? Is not a man the stronger man for 
having in childhood done some of these acts ? Has he not a 
more robust personality after them ? He knows what it is to 
have sinned. He knows what he has to meet or stand against. 
These rank, selfish deeds are giving the child an idea of self. 
The child must learn by them the idea of ownership before 
he can appreciate ownership in others. 

The next topic discussed was, Describe a child who per- 
sists in amassing a special article ; also a child with a passion 
to trade. Very little is brought out in answer to the first 
of these topics. Cases of girls collecting were much more 
numerous than those of boys. Trading is peculiarly a boy's 
trait, very few instances of girls being given. Every return 
described a boy who had a passion for trade. How strong this 
passion is among boys everyday experience teaches us. 

M., 7. Had a knife he was very proud of, but when T. came to 
house with a drum H. wanted to trade the knife for the drum. When 
he obtained the drum he traded it for a bat, then the bat for a toy gun. 
He did the same way with all his possessions, even wished to trade his 
clothes. One day he traded his old straw hat for a marble, and was 
very proud of the deal. 

M., 8. Has a great passion for trading. Everything he gets he 
tries to trade, not for the sake of gaining, for most of the time he loses, 
but just to satisfy his passion. He one time traded his hat ; one warm 
day after school he traded his shoes. He even speaks of trading his 
father's house. 



268 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Any one who knows boys knows how strong is their passion 
to trade. It seems necessary for their development. The trad- 
ing is not so much for gain or for any specific article as it is 
to satisfy the desire or passion. It but emphasizes again how 
much property and property getting makes up of life. In the 
history of the race, when men began to trade it marked the 
beginning of a great epoch. Dr. Chamberlain says that varia- 
tions in the race commenced when men began to trade and 
fight. Trading is certainly a controlling element in the nature 
of developing the boy. It is an activity which could be used 
to much advantage in attracting boys to school. What interest 
it would rouse in the boy, bubbling over with the desire to 
trade and do business, if there were some system of banks or 
trading posts connected with the schools ! ^ It is these things 
that the nature of the child goes out to that education needs 
to discover. 

Detailed descriptions of children's quarrels over the owner- 
ship of some article were asked for and 187 answers were 
received, — 74 cases being females, 6^ males, 42 where quarrel 
was between male and female, 4 sex not given, ages of chil- 
dren from 3 to 14 years. The quarrels were decided in five 
ways : (i) by some older person stepping in (78 cases) ; (2) 
by strength or force, one child taking possession and holding 
it (27 cases) ; (3) by children coming to some agreement, as 
dividing, neither having article, or by one making some com- 
pensation to others (27 cases) ; (4) by destruction of article 
either during quarrel or after it, so that neither child becomes 
the final possessor of it (21 cases); (5) by one child giving 
in to another because of its persistent selfishness or strong 
will (17 cases). 

1 School savings banks have been established in France with great success, 
and to some extent in England and America. Some very interesting articles 
have been written on this subject, showing the advantages of school savings 
banks. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 269 

F., 2, and F., 3. K. and R. were given blocks to play with. One 
of them kept taking the other's blocks. Then they began to quarrel ; 
neither one would give up her blocks. Finally they became so angry 
that K. up and danced around the floor in her temper, while R. sat on 
the floor and cried. The mother heard the noise and came to the rescue. 
She took the blocks away from them. 

M., 7, and M., 8. Walking with me over a field one day these two 
boys simultaneously found a watermelon. Each, of course, wanted 
it ; it was a very small one and not even ripe. They quarreled until 
one got it from the other, and taking it, threw it on the ground as much 
as to say, " There, you got it ! " I know many similar cases. Boys 
quarrel, then one gets it, and instead of keeping it, as one might sup- 
pose, he throws it away or destroys it. 

In nearly all cases it was found that if one child got the 
article it did not seem to care about the article itself ; and if the 
other child was not around so that it could show its possession 
and thus tantalize the other child, it cared no more about it. 
The object in asking this question was, if possible, to get some 
light on the problem. What conception of right or privilege 
of possession in another has the child .? How does the concep- 
tion of proprietary right rise in the child .? Is such a concep- 
tion to be presupposed in the child as Blackstone presupposes 
it in early man, when he laid down the principle that first pos- 
session or first occupation was recognized as the right for an 
individual to own ? Does the conception of proprietary right 
arise only through laws and restrictions imposed by a ruler, 
the principle laid down by Hume in the Leviathan ; or is this 
conception a result of evolution, arising gradually in the child, 
as we attempted to show it did in man, by a gradually increas- 
ing intelligence, — a closer adaptation of man to his fellow-men, 
making finer discriminations with the increasing complexity of 
his surroundings .-' 

The results of the returns in throwing light here were not 
very satisfactory. That the child at this early age has no such 
conception to start with is most clear. That out of their 



2 70 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

quarrels over articles, claimed by each, children must get 
some idea of a right in another to own is clear. But the fact 
of parents interfering in so many cases, though this inter- 
ference may teach ideas of the privileges of others, vitiates 
the results by not letting the idea develop of itself, if it will. 
The cases in which children come to an agreement by them- 
selves show that the child here recognizes some right in 
another ; also cases where one child gives up to another 
more persistent. These cases, it is significant, occur among 
children six or seven years of age and older. Younger chil- 
dren do not settle in this way. This seems to give support 
to the view we have taken in our anthropological study, 
that the conception of a proprietary right is a growth. 
One fact shown in this material is that in children under 
six the desire for the article — to say, " I want it " — is 
sufficient reason to the child to have or own it, and it is 
because of this that quarrels over ownership are so common 
in children. Property is also one of the first things children 
quarrel over. 

To the request to describe an instance in which a child long 
desired some toy or plaything, e.g., wagon, gun, doll, and 
very unexpectedly received it as a gift, 305 returns — 133 
from females and 'jy from males, ages four to fifteen years — 
were received. 

The state of children in the first few moments is either 
extreme exaltation, in which the impulse is to run, dance, 
or shout ; or all action seems to be inhibited ; or there is a 
combination of these two, much like and often approaching 
hysteria. After this first shock the one idea is to have every 
one see it and make much of it. The child lavishes the 
utmost amount of care, will scarcely touch the article, will 
allow no one else to touch it, will not let it leave his sight. 
Some sentences are quoted here, taken at random from dif- 
ferent papers : 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 27 1 

Danced around with great glee. Could not speak one word. I 
laughed and cried at once. At first could not say anything but just 
stood and looked at it. Jumped upon the floor, shouting and clapping 
her hands. So pleased she could not stop laughing. Jumped up and 
down, clapping her hands and screaming with delight. Did nothing but 
jump and laugh. Did not speak for five minutes. Face was all smiles, 
eyes wide open. Became bashful, ran and got behind her mother. 
Stood as though struck dumb for one moment, then danced and fairly 
screamed. So overcome she could not say a word. Could not speak 
for joy. Burst into tears and could not be comforted for some time. 
Was afraid to touch it. 

This naive spontaneity of the child gives to us an insight 
into the effects of property on the mind. Things are never so 
real, never so large, as in childhood. As the individual grows 
older his experiences have broadened his horizon so much 
that it takes great events or circumstances to affect him. As 
Hoffding says, the young man on beholding for the first time 
some grand and beautiful spectacle in nature, as a scene in 
the Alps, feels his soul sw^ell up within him, his personality 
expands, embracing it all, the whole aspect of the world and 
life seems changed and new, while the man who has looked 
on the same scene many times has no such feelings. He may 
appreciate it more, but his personality has enlarged to that 
extent that he is affected but little. This is why, in studying 
men, the difficulty of finding the things which affect the mind 
is so great ; not so in the child. 

So it is we see that these spontaneous reactions of the 
child on receiving some long-desired article give evidence of 
not a little value in respect to the large part that ownership 
plays in widening the scope of the mind and in enlarging self 
and self-feelings. 

The effect of ownership of property in which he has an 
exclusive right has a marked effect upon the child's attitude 
towards property in general. Not only do children take better 
care of belongings to which they have an undivided right, 



2 72 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

but they are more inclined to respect the property rights of 
others, especially if this be of kinds similar to their own. 
The growth of this property sense is conditioned by the age 
of the child. 

140 out of 150 cases show that children take much better 
care of their own property than that of another, and that 
children are careful of their own possessions. Only 10 cases 
were reported where owning property made them less care- 
ful ; these were cases of very young children.^ 47 cases, or 
31.3 per cent., of 150 cases show that children not only are 
careful of their own possessions, but, after six years of age 
(average eight or nine years), that possession of a certain 
article makes them more careful of other articles of the same 
kind belonging to others, and articles belonging to others 
in general. 

These returns bring some very emphatic evidence to bear 
upon the question whether it is best for schools to furnish 
children with books. That they should not seems clear unless 
the books are given to children outright. An examination of 
all the returns, and this one in particular, shows that owner- 
ship adds a dignity to the child, expands the self and self- 
feeljngs, and stimulates feelings of pride. The things owned 
in childhood are very close to the child's inner being. As one 
little girl said, when a book was returned to her with pages 
turned down and leaves soiled, " I felt as though a part of 
myself had been injured." These things appear large to chil- 
dren. Their life in a large part is wrapped up in the little 
world of their toys, dolls, wagons, and books. So when we 
say it is better for a child to own its books and other school 
appliances, we bring not only evidence of its practicability as 
a saving and better keeping of these things, but we also urge 
it for higher reasons, claiming that the sense of possession 

1 Six out of ten only had ages given ; four of these were four years of age 
or younger. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 273 

fills a gap in the child's nature, adding to his dignity and self- 
respect, expanding the feelings of self, giving an idea of 
worth and responsibility, and that these are factors of impor- 
tance in the child's education, and we believe that because of 
these very facts the child takes more interest in his books, and 
that he gets more out of them. 

M., 5. Tom was always careless about his books. The books were 
furnished by the school, and he had ruined two books since he began 
going to school. His teacher gave him a picture book for being regular 
in attendance, and he was very much pleased with it. He would not 
allow the other boys to look at his book or touch it unless their hands 
were clean. Soon after he was given this book he began to erase the 
pencil marks from his schoolbook, and he said, " I don't suppose teacher 
wants her books all dirty any more than I do." 

F. Used to tear books that they gave her to look at, — tear whole 
leaves out and fold others over and over again. But when one Christ- 
mas she received a book of her own she was just as careful of it, 
and afterward she never tore the leaves of books or even turned them 
over. 

A point of not a little interest to the writers arises from the 
fact that 47 cases, or 31.3 percent., of 150 cases show that it is 
out of their own possessions, by making objective those feelings 
of care of property, love of possession, pride in ownership, or, 
in other words, realizing that such feelings exist in others as 
well as in themselves, that respect for others' property comes 
and some notion of a proprietary right obtains. In the ques- 
tion on quarrels among the young children — ages three to 
four and five to six — the desire or wish for the article seemed 
to be a sufficient reason to them to possess it. " I want it," was 
enough. They could not see then why they should not have 
it. Among the children at this age we find little care or 
respect for others' property. The children of the 47 cases 
above were, on the average, eight or nine years old, some 
much younger, some older. In these cases the process was 
purely psychological. The child reasoned from its own desires, 



2 74 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

namely, that they were as strong in others ; that if they did 
not respect the possessions and property of others, they could 
not expect others to respect theirs. This corresponds to the 
growth of the conception of property in the mind of primitive 
man. 

From this study it is easily seen that the relations between 
childhood and property are very close and very important. 
They throw light not only on psychological phenomena, but 
also bring up questions in pedagogy of interest and value. 
Property is a great factor in developing the mind of the child. 
We see its relation here to the development of the five primary 
senses in early childhood ; its power in teaching the child 
about his own self ; how it feeds self-consciousness, gives 
feelings of importance and worth, enlarges personality, develops 
respect for property in others by having property of one's 
own, quickens activity of mind. All that property has done 
in evolving the mind of man is repeated to some extent in the 
history of childhood. Above all, property getting in childhood 
is of prime importance because it is anticipatory. Adult life 
is largely made up of acquiring property. The child in his 
tenacious acquisition, his extreme selfishness, is preparing 
himself for this struggle. Professor Groos says : " I regard 
the instinct whose mandate in the struggle for life is, Keep 
what you can get, as very important. Men and animals must 
learn not only to acquire but also to defend and protect their 
property with tenacious energy." 

Property, Personality, and Fear 

In answer to the questions, What have you observed among 
children concerning the feeling of ownership in property and 
the influence it had over their attitude both toward the 
property and valuables in general, e.g., care of books, tools, 
or a new article of clothing ? and On wearing a new dress 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 275 

how did the child behave to parents, companions, strangers ? 
160 returns were received, — 126 females, 15 males, and 19 
sex not given. Typical answers were as follows : 

F., II. With a new dress on was cold toward her companions and 
not disposed to obey her parents. 

M., 15. When he wears his new suit, stands straight, walks proudly, 
and is more polite than usual. 

F., 9. Changes her general attitude as soon as she gets on a new 
article of clothing. She acts like a different person. 

F., 7. When she puts on anything new always acts ashamed and tries 
to keep out of sight. It makes her over self-conscious. 

On wearing new garments a feeling of pride and desire to show is 
almost always manifested. Have observed children on meeting to make 
their new garments the first topic of conversation, i.e., before any greet- 
ing, e.g., «' I 've got new shoes," etc. Bashful children, however, will not 
put on new-style garments, and do not like to appear in a garment until 
it has been worn for some time. They imagine every one looking at 
them. It increases their self-consciousness. — From a professor of 
long experience. 

To the questions, What effect has a new overcoat, high 
hat, high heels, ribbons, plumes, bright-buttoned uniforms, 
articles of jewelry, buttons, badges, etc., upon the self-confi- 
dence, self-assertiveness, and personality of the wearer ? 
What is your own experience in such matters } and What 
have you observed about persons collecting stamps, coins, 
autographs ; poems, ballads, pictures, and the like for scrap- 
books ; various and sundry articles for memory books, wall 
ornaments ? 232 returns, cases of all ages, were received. 

M., 34 (president State Normal School). Dress, plumes, buttons, 
badges, increase our egotism, measure our opinion of self. I have noticed 
this in myself and others. 

M., 32. Usually one feels more self-confident in good clothes. 
Have made many a poor recital in school and in college because I was 
poorly dressed. One is much more assertive when well dressed. The 
effect is especially noticeable in women. 



276 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

F., 7. Had to recite in school. Asked her mother if she could wear 
her new dress and ribbons. " Mamma," she said, " I 'm sure I can 
speak better if I am dressed up." 

F. (supervisor to department State Normal School). Says she " can 
teach much better in new clothes." 

F., 20. Wearing new clothes and finery does not make any differ- 
ence in the treatment of my friends, still inwardly I have a great deal 
more confidence in myself. If I were obliged to wear an old dress to 
a party my whole evening's enjoyment would be spoiled, while if I 
could have a fine dress on I should have a grand time, should feel like 
suggesting new games and in general taking the lead. 

The following phrases occurred most frequently in the 
returns, as descriptive of the effects of dress : "gives a dig- 
nified bearing"; "forgot my timidness"; "increased my self- 
respect"; "can never act natural in new clothes"; "feel 
increased in size"; "feelinbetter state of mind"; "felt older"; 
"makes me awkward, bashful, and shy"; "increased self- 
confidence and importance." 

There were 229 returns descriptive of the effect of sudden 
and unexpected increase or loss in property, and the loss of 
relatives and friends. 

M., 60. Inherited a small (to him a large) fortune. The very first 
thing he did was to tell all his friends and invite them to a supper. 
Before this he had been rather a quiet man and not given to pushing 
himself into anything. Now, however, he was heard from in most 
enterprises. 

M., 30. Became suddenly rich by the death of a relative. His first 
act was to invite his friends to a champagne dinner, and the next day 
buy a fast running horse. All that he seemed to care for was a good 
time and to have all about him happy. 

F. This young woman was quite poor ; married a young business 
man, who took her to a nice new home which he had built. The 
change made her proud ; she slighted her friends and relatives, and 
became generally disliked. Age improved her manner. 

F., 25. Father very wealthy, she was greatly admired in all the 
social circles ; she gave parties, teas, etc., to which nearly every 
one in the small town in which she lived was invited. At the death 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 277 

of her father it was found that the estate was completely involved; 
that she and her mother owned nothing. She committed suicide in a 
few days. 

The changes in, and fluctuations of, personahty under the 
stimulus of property are neither peculiar nor exceptional psy- 
choses, that appear only under the very best test conditions ; 
they belong to the common stock of everyday experience. We 
therefore appeal to this common wealth of experience both for 
data and for justification of what follows. The observations 
accorded above are merely introductory and suggestive. 

We have seen that the child lays claim earliest to those things 
that satisfy its wants in the sphere of instinct and the senses. 
What the child does in this instinctive and natural way the 
adult strives to do through the myriad devices of the intellect, 
but the aim is the same, i.e., to satisfy wants and enlarge the 
pleastire field. Property, then, is an instrument to avert pain 
and procure pleasure. Considered psychologically, property 
is anything which procures pleasure and satisfaction to the 
individual, and anything is a loss that induces want and pain. 
In this sense a beautiful painting, a landscape, a gorgeous 
sunset is property to any beholder, while the possession of a 
pair of boils is a decided loss, although the former may vanish 
within a few seconds, and the latter remain six weeks. 

The manifold wants of dress come next after those of phys- 
ical hunger and thirst. Professor James observes: "There 
are few of us who, if asked to choose between having a beauti- 
ful body clad in raiment perpetually shabby and unclean, and 
having an ugly and blemished form always spotlessly attired, 
would not hesitate a moment before making a decisive reply." 
Objectively, our clothes argue, persuade or repel, com- 
mand and talk for us. They project and partially represent the 
social self. They are our envoys extraordinary. Subjectively, 
good clothes enlarge the pleasure field and increase the feel- 
ings of size, confidence, egoism, self-consciousness, courage, 



278 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

etc. The self-feelings among children and youth may be so 
intensified thereby as to create disturbances in their social 
strata. Lotze emphasized the fact that clothes aroused the 
feelings of physical extension, and that one's personality was 
enlarged by them through our bodily parts being enlarged as 
to sensation in this or that direction by the articles attached. 
May not this expansive, self-assertive effect of dress on person- 
ality account for the custom of warriors of all ages entering 
battle decked out in rich attire — with blazoned shields, glitter- 
ing steel, waving plumes, and bright raiment ? The slang 
word fierce is attributed to one appareled in a gorgeous 
costume. 

The property value of one's name deserves the space of a 
paragraph. When Shakespeare said " What 's in a name .? " he 
propounded a question of not a little psychological interest. A 
man's name is a possession which is closely assimilated with 
his ego. As has been said, "The name has grown layer by 
layer." It has grown with the ego and the man. It would be an 
interesting study to learn from married women their feelings 
on losing the name with which they had grown up and coming 
into possession of a new one. The writer [France] finds on 
limited inquiry that there are very peculiar feelings of the 
ego having lost a part of itself, of almost shame on writing or 
giving the new name, and a lack of "at homeness" with one's 
self. Professor Sanford has defined personality as "the sum 
total of all the reactions that can be got from an individual at 
any one moment." A study of \^q. first reactions of individuals 
who have come suddefily and unexpectedly into the possession 
of a large fortune, and of those who have sustained great and 
sudden losses, would show, perhaps, the most fundamental 
effect of material property on the ego. The first reactions 
under such conditions are most likely to be the instinctive, 
unconscious, flashing out of the real naked ego before the 
intellect can get her inhibiting machinery into working order. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 279 

Of the 229 cases on this topic 60 describe the behavior 
of persons made suddenly rich, 5 1 describe persons meeting 
with sudden loss, and 118 are descriptive of feelings at the sud- 
den loss of a relative, friend, etc. Ten per cent, of the 60 cases 
are described as continuing in their ordinary affairs unchanged ; 
they went about in the even tenor of their ways as though 
nothing had happened. Eight per cent, immediately turned 
spendthrifts and prodigals ; they seemed pleasure-intoxicated, 
bent on giving the passions the widest possible amplitude ; few 
of these cases ever face about and settle down to business. 
Twenty per cent, at once conceived some generous deed, — 
gathered their poor friends in for a dinner, — headed some 
humane and philanthropic movement, began to help a poor boy 
to prepare for the ministry ; they are often described as loving 
everybody, even becoming good to animals. Thirty-eight per 
cent, are described as haughty, proud, arrogant, forgetting and 
"cutting" their old friends, domineering, harsh and cruel to 
servants, unsociable ; some turn out misers. It must be stated, 
however, that some of this portion of the returns are seriously 
damaged by the evident presence of the " green-eyed monster," 
which, of itself, is an interesting property psychosis. There 
seems to be greater uniformity of behavior among those sustain- 
ing sudden loss. The majority have little to say, they avoid old 
friends, seek seclusion, and maintain a dogged silence to the 
world. They are often found in deep study, and overheard 
talking to themselves. Some commit suicide. And more than 
we are aware of spend their last days in an insane asylum. Of 
course some vigorous and well-poised souls begin cheerfully 
over again. 

Disregarding a few exceptional cases, with the knowledge 
of new possessions personality sallies forth with the altruistic 
and the whole host of self -feelings wonderfully intensified. At 
the news of a wrecked fortune personality is timid, silent, 
evades society like the peafowl with lost plumage, and is at 



28o CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

times seized with morbid fears. Wherefore does property 
have such transforming power on the ego ? Why these cata- 
clysms in the nature and disposition of man at an increase or 
decrease of things owned ? 

If we view conscious personahty subjectively, we find that 
it is not a constant entity but rather a consensus of those 
things present at any time in the stream of consciousness. 
The constituent elements in the mosaic of personality are 
what interest us here. What are they in the main ? We have 
observed repeatedly that personality grows in proportion as 
the things one recognizes as his own increase, and that it 
shrinks, that much of it becomes as nothing, as the things 
once owned are swept away. Hobbes says property is grounded 
internally or psychologically in the consciously apprehended 
capacities and requirements of human personality. Jhering, in 
his Struggle after Law, says : " In making the object my 
own I stamped it with my own person : whoever attacks it 
attacks me, the blow struck it strikes me, for I am present in 
it." Is not this the answer to our query.? The recognition 
of things owned by me as mine is the material that makes up 
much of my personality ; and the concept mine is the cement 
to the entire mosaic mass constituting the ego. The attitude 
of monks, nuns, and hermits towards property is an illustration 
in point. The one aim of their lives is to subjugate self, anni- 
hilate their own personality in order that they may take on the 
likeness of another. To do this they dispossess themselves of 
everything, wear the plainest clothes, often even expel their 
own ideas and thoughts. Most convents and monasteries for- 
bid their inmates to own anything. 

Another illustration showing that property is the very back- 
bone of personality is seen in general paresis. Here, under the 
processes of devolution, under reversionary conditions, the one 
great delusion present is that of vast wealth ; the idea of owner- 
ship stands out in the mind in relief amidst the crumbling and 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 28 1 

fading away of all other psychoses. Again, the prospect of 
great wealth, a promising scheme whereby a fabulous fortune 
is to be realized, for example, the South Sea Island project, 
the scheme for extracting gold from sea water, a trip to the 
Klondike, will take away the good sense, mother wit, and judg- 
ment of many people. Under these conditions their credulity 
runs riot ; any device, however absurd, is wholly adequate to 
the end in their eyes. In fact they will not attend to details, 
will refuse to consider ways and means, so blinded have they 
become in dreaming over the fabulous returns at the goal. 
When we consider that no one factor is so intimately asso- 
ciated with all of life's activities as property getting ; that 
property has been and is the one great sessilizing agency for 
the human race, converting nomads to husbandmen ; that 
mind and civilization have developed through it and by it, it 
is no wonder that shattered and wrecked fortunes should be 
accompanied by dismembered and tottering personalities. 

Probably the most general and most urgent motive prompt- 
ing the acquisition of property in its many forms is fear. The 
absurd and outlandish practices of the miser will serve us as 
an introduction to this phase of the subject. The items here 
recorded are taken from 104 returns on this subject. 

M., 52. Crabbed, dishonest, had but few friends. Had one child, a 
son, to whom he willed a large pile of almanacs. The son was on the 
point of burning them when he happened to look in an almanac and 
found twenty dollar bills between the leaves. By looking carefully 
through the file he found a large sum. 

F., 60. Lived in a garret, thought to be very poor. Ate the poorest 
food, finally died of starvation. When her room was searched four 
bank books were found and deeds of a great deal of property ; the 
whole amounted to about half a million dollars. 

F. Lived alone, dressed poorly, neighbors thought her poor. She 
aroused their sympathy until they practically supported her. She was 
found dead. While disposing of effects to defray funeral expenses 
three thousand dollars was found stuffed in an old clock. 



282 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

M., 33. Have always felt that it would be such a disgrace to be 
buried at public expense. 

M., 39. I have often been haunted with the fear of poverty and 
dying in want. It is the most distressing and depressing state of mind. 

Carlyle declared that the hell English people fear most is 
poverty. We think the declaration might as well be made to 
include the rest of the human race, for in matters so funda- 
mental there is slight room for differences. 

Poverty is pain. It always has been and is ever enlarging 
the pain field. Its areas include ignorance, bondage, human 
slavery, cruelty, and misery in its divers forms. Fear is the 
dread of pain or of the possibilities of pain. The fear of poverty 
arises in anticipation or dread of the pain that it may cause. 
The fear is as deep seated as the suffering thereby has been 
great. There is no cause for wonder at those nameless feelings 
of dread that steal over one at the thought of being left defense- 
less in the world without a cent, of being suddenly cut off 
from the pleasures that delight us, and of being assimilated 
with outcasts, charges, and irresponsibles, of spending one's 
last days in the poorhouse, of being buried at public expense 
and taking one's eternal rest in the potter's field. All those 
feelings of distrust of man for man in the business world, the 
always more or less strained relations between creditor and 
debtor, and the constant over-anxiety about the safe-keeping 
of property are further expressions of the property-fear psycho- 
sis. It crops out among those people who put their money 
out at small interest in some safe place instead of putting it 
where pleasure and benefit in a large revenue could be derived. 
The extreme form of this fear leads some persons to hide their 
valuables in ridiculous and out-of-the-way places, for instance, in 
the hems of a garment, in a bundle of carpet rags, underneath 
a stone, in hair combings, etc. Every one has seen or heard 
many incidents of this nature. One usually ascribes the hiding 
of money to misers, which is usually the case ; but all misers 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 283 

do not hide money, nor are all money -hiders misers. Fear and 
distrust may cause even a liberal man to keep his money in 
his own peculiar way. Money-hiding, however, is one of the 
things of minor interest about the miser. 

Science lacks a psycho-sociological treatment of the miser. 
It is true that numerous descriptions of his nature, disposition, 
and appearance are found in certain species of ethical litera- 
ture. These descriptions attempt nothing at his origin, and 
are inadequate in showing his relations to society. The plan 
of this paper permits only a brief statement of the theories 
relating to his origin and nature. The subject deserves a sep- 
arate monograph. The miser belongs more particularly to the 
climacteric and post-climacteric periods of life. He has lost 
interest in his species, — the instinct feelings of parenthood are 
dead within him, for he evades and shirks her holy ordinances. 
The dynamic push up of life's forces, the progress of all life, is 
a concatenation of forces that he avoids. He steps aside when 
they move in his direction. He will not be caught up by them. 
Although the most sessilized form of the human race, his 
sessile apparatus is of the very crudest sort — a miserable hut 
or cave. He will not beautify a home. Even if given one, the 
marks of time soon begin to show on it. He reverses every 
principle of hygiene, every sentiment of home, and a better 
part of the customs of society. Whence this anomalous socio- 
logical element ? Is he a product of a morbid passion to get 
money plus a morbid fear of poverty, both having become 
fixed ideas ? or is he an individual whose nature the altruistic 
wand of adolescence never touched } Was he truant to life's 
school while nature was teaching her one great lesson of self- 
sacrifice } Is the miser a man with a child's notion of property, 
i.e., that property is an end and not a means 1 or may he have 
resulted from an enforced unselfishness and altruism in child- 
hood, not allowing the instinct of selfish acquisition to play 
itself out ? or may he have resulted from some mental shock 



284 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

as disappointment in love/ loss of friends, thereby aborting 
that instinct of providing for one's children, which, we have 
shown, is so fundamental in the normal individual ? This latter 
theory appeals strongly to the writers as one which accounts, at 
least, for not a few misers. Sweep away from a man his friends, 
by some evil blow destroy his faith in his own kind, and leave 
him thus without a purpose, with no one to care for — what 
will be the result ? Silas Marner was such a man. We quote 
the opinion of George Eliot : " Have not men shut up in soli- 
tary imprisonment found an interest in marking the moments 
by straight strokes of a certain length on the wall until the 
growth of the sum of straight strokes, arranged in triangles, 
has become a mastering purpose ? Do we not while away 
moments of inanity or fatigued waiting by repeating some 
trivial movement or sound until the repetition has bred a want, 
which is incipient habit ? That will help us to understand how 
the love of accumulating money grows into an absorbing passion 
in men whose imaginations, even in the very beginning of their 
hoard, showed them no purpose beyond it. Marner wanted the 
heaps of tens to grow into a square ; and every added guinea, 
while it was itself a satisfaction, bred a new desire. In this 
strange world, made a riddle to him, he might, if he had had a 
less intense nature, have sat a-weaving, looking toward the end 
of his pattern or toward the end of his web, till he forgot the 
riddle and everything else but his immediate sensation, but the 
money had come to mark off his weaving into periods, and 
the money not only grew, but it remained with him. He began 
to think it was conscious of him as his loom was, and he would 
on no account have exchanged these coins, which had become 
his familiars, for others with unknown faces. He handled them, 
he counted them till their form and color were like the satisfac- 
tion of a thirst to him, but it was only in the night when his 

1 R. L. Stevenson, in his novel Kidnapped, gives disappointment in love as 
the cause of David Balfour's uncle becoming such a cruel miser. 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP 285 

work was done that he drew them out to enjoy their compan- 
ionship." ^ 

Every human being must have something in the world upon 
which to lavish affection and solicitude, something to which he 
can turn for companionship in his hour of leisure, some end in 
which his labor finds reward. And if through some mishap in 
the economy of nature, some abortion of his own instincts, he 
be deprived of such of these as his own human kind afford, he 
must turn elsewhere, and that iron-handed master, habit, may 
well determine that his fate be turned into a rut of money 
hoarding. It was the entrance of a little child into the life of 
Silas Marner that transformed the old crabbed miser into the 
tenderest of fathers. If the child had entered his life first and 
passed again from it, he might in turn have become the miser. 
Such is the " expulsive power of a new affection," but affection 
there must be in every breast, — an end in every life. We do 
not attempt to choose among these several theories on account 
of the small number of facts in hand. To study the miser 
with any degree of satisfaction, both his life history and that 
of his ancestors should be well in hand. 

Linus W. Kline 
C. J. France 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Allen, Grant. Flash Lights on Nature. Doubleday, Page & Co., New 
York, 1898. 

Bolton, Frederic E. " Hydropsychoses," American Journal of Psy- 
chology, Vol. X, pp. 169-227, January, 1899. 

Dawson, George E. " Psychic Rudiments of Morality," American 
Journal of Psychology, Vol. II, pp. 181-224, January, 1900. 

Groos, Karl. The Play of Animals (translated by E. L. Baldwin). 
D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1898. 341 pages. 

Hall, G. Stanley. " Moral and Religious Training of Adolescents," 
Princeton Review, Vol. X, pp. 26-48, January, 1882; also Pedagogical 
Seminary, Vol. I. pp. 196-210, June, 1891. 

1 Silas Marner, by George Eliot, p. 19, 



286 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Hall, G. Stanley. "Some Aspects of the Early Sense of Self," 
American Journal of Psychology, Vol. IX, pp. 351-395, April, 1898. 

James, William. Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, p. 292, New York, 
1890. 2 vols. 

La Fargue, Paul. Evolution of Property. Scribner, London and New 
York, 1890. 174 pages. 

Lancaster, Ellsworth G. " The Psychology and Pedagogy of Adoles- 
cence," Pedagogical Setninary, Vol. V, pp. 61-128, July, 1897. 

Letourneau, Charles. Property, its Origin and Development (Con- 
temporary Science Series). Scribner, London, 1892. 401 pages. 

Mason, Otis T. Women's Share in Primitive Culture. D. Appleton 
& Co., New York, 1899. 295 pages. 

Monroe, Will S. " The Money Sense of Children," Pedagogical 
Seminary, Vol. VI, pp. 152-158, March, 1899. 

Moore, Mrs. Kathleen C. Mental Development of a Child. Mac- 
millan. New York, 1896 (150 pages) ; also Psychological Review, Mono- 
graph Supplements, Vol. I, No. 3, 1896 (150 pages). 

Morgan, C. Lloyd. Habits and Instinct. E. Arnold, London and 
New York, 1896. 351 pages. 

Newcomb, Professor G. B. " Theories of Property," Political Science 
Quarterly, Vol. I, p. 595, 1886. 

Oberholtzer, S. L. School Savings Banks. Published by American 
Academy of Social and Political Science, Philadelphia, 1893. 

Starr, Frederick. " Dress and Adornment," Popular Science Monthly, 
Vol. XXXIX, pp. 488-502; Vol. XL, pp. 44-57, 194-206, August, 
November, and December, 1891. 

Sully, James. Human Mind, Vol. I, p. 476 ; Vol. 1 1, p. 106. D. Apple- 
ton & Co., New York, 1892. 

Tassin, Wirt. " Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Gems in 
the United States National Museum," Report of the United States 
JVational Museuffi for igoo, T^^. /^'j'^-6jo, Washington, 1902. (Special 
reference is called to the mystical properties of gems, pp. 558-587; 
also to the exhaustive bibliography.) 

Tylor, Edward B. Researches into the Early History of Mankind 
and the Development of Civilization. H. Holt & Co., New York, 1878. 
388 pages. 

Weir, James, Jr. " The Herds of the Yellow Ant," Popular Science 
Monthly, Vol. LIV, pp. 75-81, November, 1898. 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN i 

Use of the Terms "Fetich" and "Fetichism" 

The words fetich and fetichism are commonly used as 
blanket terms for all forms of savage religion, whether wor- 
ship of sticks, stones, trees, rivers, mountains, fire, animals, 
or the heavenly bodies, but following Major A. B. Ellis, who 
has spent many years as an officer in West Africa, I here 
restrict the terms to their original significance. 

When the Portuguese began explorations in West Africa 
some four hundred years ago, Christian Europe was full of 
relics and images of saints, charmed rosaries, crosses, etc., 
which were supposed to give protection and success, and 
when worn gave still greater protection. Such charms were 
called y(?zV/pj, and when the Portuguese saw the negroes pay- 
ing the same reverence to charmed stones they applied the 
same word to the savage charms. 

As to this significance of fetiches there is much diversity 
of opinion. To Brinton the fetich is something more than the 
mere object. That the savage beats his fetich when it does 
not bring him success proves the contrary, nor have we evi- 
dence that primitive man was ever able to distinguish between 
the body and spirit. 

Fetichism at first confounded the spirit and the object ; 
later, when man became more cultured, he thought of the fetich 
as the place where the spirit chose to manifest itself, and 
finally came to consider the fetich as a symbol, an aid to 
devotion, or even came to rise above its use. With growing 

^ Reprinted in abridged form from Pedagogical Setninary^ Vol. IX, pp. 205- 
220, June, 1902. 

287 



288 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

culture came a growth in aesthetic sense, and the fetich is 
improved by a gradual conformity to the human figure or 
some animal form. There is no line of demarcation between 
the rough unhewn stone fetich and the Aphrodite of Melos. 

Primitive man worshiped where it paid him to do so, and 
naturally enough, under the influence of his needs and the 
environment, certain things that ministered to those needs 
were worshiped and all others fell into disfavor. Fetichistic 
practices also form part of the outer worship of Lamaite 
Buddhism and Taoism, and they are not only tolerated but 
prescribed by other universal religions. I need but mention 
the amulets, talismans, scapularies, miracle working relics, 
etc., among Mohammedans and Christians. 

Stone worship exists to-day in England, Scotland, Wales, 
and France as widely as ever. 

" Modern folklore is full of fetichism, and it is a develop- 
ment of the religious sentiment which flourishes in all times 
and climes. Amulets, charms, lucky stones, everything that 
we call by the familiar term of mascot, partakes of the nature 
of a fetich. Through some fancied potency not to be found 
among its physical qualities it is believed to bring us good 
fortune." 

Recapitulation of the Race in the Child 

The old saying that parents live again in their children is 
no less true than that the child lives again the history of the 
race. 

Biologically the child passes through a series of types 
ranging from protozoan to man. At conception the organ- 
ism is a minute unicellular structure, by the second week it 
suggests an invertebrate type, at three weeks it has fishlike 
gill pouches, by the fifth week it has developed amphibian 
traces and the limbs have become differentiated from the 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN 289 

body ; thence on to the middle of the third month reptilian 
characters are found. Gradually the foetus assumes an an- 
thropoidal character, and from about the fifth to the seventh 
month the body is covered with short downy hair, without 
pigment. 

Any interference with the course of nature may cause arrest 
at any of these stages and result in monsters at birth. 

The atavisms of young children are suggestive. The infant 
sits with the soles of the feet together, as do the apes. Some 
newborn children can sustain themselves for one minute by 
clinging to a stick. This is not so strange when we remember 
that the young of apes have to cling to their mother. There 
are a large number of rudimentary organs in the body, which, 
like the vermiform appendix, were useful at some stage of the 
organic evolution. 

^Psychologically there are many things explained only by the 
recapitulation theory. In dreams, the old racial fears often 
make nights miserable. Kissing has developed as evidence 
of faith that the person would not be eaten, a fear which, so 
common in our animal ancestors, must be taken to account for 
the strange fear many have for teeth, fur, etc. Blushing is 
perhaps a survival of the sex fear. Distrust of strangers and 
neighbors, so common in sparsely settled communities, is a 
survival of the fear that primitive man, always at war for exist- 
ence, had for his fellow-men. The suddenness with which the 
fear of disease and death may spring up to overmastering 
power " shows a deep hereditary root copiously watered by 
superstition." 

The tendency of children to run away is an echo of the 
migratory impulse of our ancestors, which has become abnor- 
mally developed in the tramp and " globe trotter." 

The fascination which water has for children and even 
adults has been taken by Bolton as "abundant proof of 
man's pelagic ancestry." 



290 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Fetichism in Children 

Mrs. Burk in her study of the collecting instinct saw- 
there was something yet to be explained, but did not offer a 
solution. 

"When we consider its universality, its widespread affec- 
tion ; when we consider its intensity, the number of collections 
children make and the interest they take in them ; when we 
consider the variety of the things collected, showing that the 
mania seizes upon any and practically every outlet imaginable, 
and showing, too, that to collect is more important than what 
is collected ; when we consider, moreover, that the phenomenon 
has a definite progress, — a rise, a growth, and a decline, an 
age development, — we are inclined not to hesitate in calling 
it an instinct" (p. 238 of this volume). 

The psychological explanation of this instinct seems to be 
that the child has in it the survival of the savage impulse to 
collect the strange and beautiful in the hope that some good 
will come thereby. This vague, unanalyzed feeling in the 
child was the philosophy of its savage ancestors. Just as 
nameless fears and mysterious impulses are echoes of ancient 
psychoses, so is this collecting impulse a dim reminder of the 
fetichism of our ancestors. Evidence of this is seen in Mrs. 
Burk's study, in the fact that even "a comparatively few" 
reported collections made for " luck " (p. 230 of this volume). 

Children's Animistic Conceptions of Inanimate 
Objects 

It is hard for the child to distinguish between the self and 
not-self. This is seen in the way in which things are regarded 
as a part of the personality or family. 

F., 18. I want to keep forever everything I ever worked and played 
with. Toys and even schoolbooks seem a part of me and I would not 
part with them. 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN 291 

F. At home they have a large brass match box, 200 years old, which 
has always been in the family. She feels that it is a part of her ancestry. 

F.'s brother has an old kitchen clock which used to be in her home. 
She regards this as one of the family. 

Playthings are regarded as persons. 

M., 5. Was strongly attached to a small, rude, chair-shaped block of 
wood ; called it "boy block," took it everywhere, hugged it, cried when it 
was lost, etc. 

F., 1 7. My brother, aged three, has a bit of an old strap, which he always 
keeps and talks to and takes to bed with him. We cannot find out why, 

F., 19. I wore a star and crescent badge of our club. I felt it was 
somehow like a man. 

M., 9. Played pretty stones were people. 

The rudiments of a philosophy are found in the child's ex- 
planation of the origin of things. 

M., 23. As a boy, I saw lime slaked and immediately conceived great 
awe of it. I got and cherished a piece and fancied many things about it. 

M., 23. Wondered where stones came from but was ashamed to ask. 

F., 19. Thought stones came up out of the earth. 

M., 7. Thought stones were made of ground when it got hot ; clouds 
of dust turned into stones. Wondered if they turned back. 

Here we have speculations on ancient history and attempts 
to solve the problem of nature. The last example quoted is 
remarkable as closely approximating Heraclitus' theory that 
all is a flux, and also suggests the ancient Greek theory of 
physics, that material phenomena are different condensations 
of a primal substance. 

F. I had certain places where imaginary friends lived, and I didn't 
want other people to go there. 

F. I remember I used to make collections of different kinds of 
buttons and imagine them as men and women and make them act as if 
they were alive. Sometimes I thought they were an army and I would 
make them have a fight by shaking them up, and all those that turned 
over I thought of as dead. 

Such conceptions as these give the foundation for a mythol- 
ogy that only needs time to develop it. 



292 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Stones are regarded as having feeling, as knowing what is 
going on, as sympathizing in trouble. 

F., i6. Stones have feelings. She fell on one and struck it back to 
make it feel bad too. 

F. When angry vented her anger upon the object which caused it. 

F. Vents anger upon the thing that bothers her ; if algebra, she 
pounds it ; if a door, she slams it. 

F. When angry would go to her room and throw and tear things. She 
did this to show that she could conquer something. She would then try 
to mend the broken article. 

F. Feels that stones have sympathy ; that the one in her ring knows 
what is going on. Seems pathetic to her to throw a pretty stone into 
water. 

F, Would not throw a pretty stone into water because she would not 
want to part with it. She regards stones as friends. 

F., 8. Threw stones into deep water and cried because she was sorry 
for them. She thought stones stuck to the bottom of ponds and pails, 
and wondered if they were hurt, or if it was cold, dark, smothery. 

F. Thought a certain rock saw all she did and would sometime tell. 

Human relationships are conceived of as existing between 
large and small stones, and distinctions between animate and 
inanimate objects are not made. 

F., 19. Large rocks are the fathers of the little ones. 
F., 18. Thought sand was alive and grew. Sand was young stones 
that would grow up to be rocks. 

F. In the country, said, " Stones grow larger here than at home." 
F., 17. Thought a big black stone in the forest must be very old. 

One of the most fascinating diversions of the child is to trace 
forms in the figures of the wall paper, or anything else. 

F. Used to look at the cracks in the walls and imagine them to be 
forms of animals or plants. 

F. Used to imagine pictures of people, etc., in the wall paper of a 
certain room. 

These last two examples show an instinct that is very com- 
mon in adults who delight to sit in the dark and trace in the 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN 293 

glowing embers of the open hearth or the flickering shadows 
on the wall the forms of men and fairies or grotesque animals. 
This instinct to people the darkness or an unfrequented wood 
with nameless monsters is especially noticeable when fear has 
aroused it. One of the things that helped primitive man to 
fill the world with spirits must have been the fantasies of his 
mind, which seemed to appear and dissolve into the natural 
objects to appear elsewhere. Under such a frame of mind 
primitive man came to think of the spirits as dissociated with 
natural objects but manifesting themselves through them as 
caprice prompted. 

The savage to-day sees a knotted piece of wood which 
happens to suggest something to his mind, and at once the 
piece of wood becomes to him the abode of a spirit and is 
taken home to give protection to him and his property. 

In the child there is the combination of the mother instinct 
with the fetich. 

The child's plaything may suggest the features of a person 
disliked. 

F. I had one doll which I never liked, because it resembled a very 
disagreeable person. We used to hang this doll on the clothesline and 
take turns throwing stones at it. 

This may appear a meaningless matter, but it is what is very 
common among savages and survives in parts of England and 
elsewhere. To the savage mind anything that looks like a 
person is supposed to contain a part of the personality of that 
person. Anthropologists have nearly lost their lives in making 
drawings of natives, because the drawing was supposed to con- 
tain the *' shadow " of the person it resembled, and if any ill 
should befall it, or any indignity be given it, the evil results 
would fall on the original of the picture. In England it even 
now occasionally happens that a doll dressed to resemble an 
enemy is taken and filled with pins with the purpose of 



294 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

causing the death of the person it resembles. Salem witch- 
craft days were full of such tales. It has not passed away in 
America, as the hanging in effigy, occasionally practiced, re- 
echoes the old belief that such an act would cause the death 
of the person. 

Child Magic 

To the savage mind the powers of nature were sometimes 
friendly and sometimes not. In the child's mind either of 
these views may be dominant, or the one or the other may be 
dominant as the child feels it has done right or wrong. 

F. Feels that a large rock near her home would protect her, and she 
often goes there to cry. 

M., 6. Rocks suggested strong soldiers. 

M. Rocks made men strong. It was pleasant to sit on them and talk 
to them. Always felt safe near them. 

Probably very large rocks cause the sense of fear, while the 
smaller ones give the sense of protection. The writer well 
remembers his childhood terror of large rocks and cliffs, but 
took keen delight in playing near small bowlders. Even with 
more mature years, he feels more comfortable when there are 
no large rocks or cliffs near. 

Two of the most remarkable returns are given here. 

— . Wishes on a stone and spits on it to make things come true. 
F., ID. Visits a white flat stone, wishes over it, and throws it over her 
shoulder to make things come true. 

Spitting on the fetich is common among savages and has 
great potency among the people of northern England. 

Throwing stones over the shoulder recalls the myths of 
Deucalion and Pyrrha. Whether this myth had been told the 
child and her acts had been imitative matters not, for the 
fact that such things could appeal to the child's mind shows 
that it is in the same condition as that of the savage. 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN 



295 



Stones are worn as charms and any harm to them may 
bring bad luck. 

F. Carried a little red stone for protection. 

F. Has a lucky stone that she thinks brings luck. 

F., 16. Lost a game because the stone was broken and could not win. 

When the child vents anger upon any object it is due to the 
idea, however vague, that it is to blame for all the trouble or 
should exert some restraining influence, as the following shows : 

F., 16. Got mad one day and knocked a piece off a big stone with a 
hammer, «' so it would remember and not let me get mad again." 

Other objects than stones are used for luck. 

F. I remember picking up pins and thinking at the time of the say- 
ing that they would bring good luck. I also have stopped when riding 
or driving to pick up a horseshoe. 

A primitive faith cure or Shamanism is found in children. 

F., 17. A boy of five emptied his pockets for me. In them were 
... a pill box with imaginary salve to cure your finger if it got hurt, 
some pretty stones carried " because," etc. 

Instances of this kind might be multiplied indefinitely. In 
Vermont horse-chestnuts are carried to keep off rheumatism, 
" sulphur bags " are worn to keep away colds, etc. 

" Making believe " is a universal occurrence among children, 
and exists in countless forms. One common thing is to turn 
work into play. 

F. When I washed dishes I used to call the knives men, the forks 
women, and spoons children. The steel knives and forks used in the 
kitchen were servants. I always arranged them in families. This form 
continued until I was thirteen or fourteen years old I think. 

F. When I used to be tired of practicing on the piano I made believe 
that my hands or fingers were children chasing each other up and down 
the scales. The other instance was when I was wiping dishes. I called 
the knives men, the forks women, and the spoons children. 



296 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

Jewels especially have a very warm place near the heart of 
man, and are almost a language of feehng. They are loved 
and feared and have strange power over human life. For 
some pearls bring tears, opals are worst of all, and diamonds 
are best. 

F. Thinks she could not get along without her birth stone, an opal, 
but would not wear one unless it had been her birth stone. 

F. Has always felt that opals were bad luck, and that pearls bring 
tears. She would not wear either. 

F. Made a collection of pretty stones because they seemed so like 
gems. She wears a lucky pin and carries lucky bones. 

Single coins of silver and especially gold are often made 
fetiches of by adults. 

F. Knows a distinguished attorney who has for years carried a penny 
given him by an old lady, who assured him that he would not lose any 
cases while he carried it. 

Often one charm has not virtue enough, and as many kinds 
of lucky articles as possible are worn. 

F. Carries a rabbit's foot for good luck, has a four-leaved clover in 
her watch, also she carries a lucky penny. She cried when she lost her 
four-leafed clover. 

Fetiches of Association 

One form of fetichism that is extremely common is the sou- 
venir craze. It takes every possible phase from the Colonial 
Dame who prides herself on her collection of teapots, to the 
college student who decorates his room with things " swiped " 
on many a midnight lark. This collecting instinct is due to 
the psychological law of association in which the familiar ob- 
ject serves as a stimulus to set off the original mental state 
connected with it. This, in the savage mind, amounts to the 
law that whatever suggests a thing is that thing. This is the 
psychological basis of the "make-believe" plays of children. 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN 



297 



M., 18. When about five I had a passion for mementoes and would 
bring a stone from every place I went, to remember it by. I kept my 
relics to bring up past experiences. 

F., 29. I lately came across a box of things that were very precious 
to me as a child. It contained a blue cuff button, two jacks, a glass 
stopper, an ivory umbrella handle, an empty perfume bottle, shells, a bit 
of coral, funny letters, many bits of doth and ribbons, tissue paper, etc. 
All of my girl friends had such things and we traded much, but allowed 
no one to touch our treasures. 

F., 23. Thirteen years ago we went from the East to Chicago. Just 
as we were leaving, my bosom friend, Nellie, and I were walking arm in 
arm ; we each picked up a stone and gave the other. Later, in Chicago, 
I would talk to my stone as if it were Nellie. Each of us still cherish 
our stones, and I feel if anything happened to it, something would be 
wrong with her. 

F., 16. My uncle I never saw, for he died in the war ; but I took 
great pleasure in and felt great awe over the things kept sacred in his 
trunk, — a spoon, knife, a notebook, a pack of cards, an arrowhead, etc. 

These illustrate what has just been said of the law of asso- 
ciation as recalling past experiences. This is paralleled in the 
scalps which the American Indian proudly exhibits, and in the 
thousand and one incidents of savage life where abstraction 
is impossible and every thought clings to concrete forms, and 
also brings out the fact that one cannot love in the abstract. 
There must be something to keep memory fresh and the 
heart tender. It is natural to keep the things that remind 
one of dear friends removed from earthly life, and where it 
does not occur we feel something is lacking in one's nature. 
The tenderest, best emotions of life are wrapped up in a faded 
flower or some seemingly meaningless and worthless object. 
This is nowhere better seen than in love fetiches. Every- 
thing that the mistress has worn or touched, be it ever so 
humble, is sacred to the ardent lover ; the perfume she prefers 
recalls her with overwhelming emotions ; souvenirs collected 
on strolls together are dearer than gold ; the ring that acknowl- 
edges their engagement is sacred above all else to the maiden's 



298 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

heart from its associations and, perhaps, from a superstitious 
regard of it. Photographs well show how a savage can look 
at an image. The lover kisses the photograph and speaks to 
it as tenderly as if it were the original. Nice distinctions as to 
appearance and reality never trouble him, unless with the con- 
sciousness that the photograph is not as satisfactory as the 
original. 

Others smile at the lovers, but " all the world loves a lover," 
and never is man so close to the past history of the race as 
when he is a lover. 

Articles of food are often regarded mystically. Friends 
keep half of a cracker each, curious candies, fruit, bits of 
wedding cake. 

Conclusion 

While the arrangement of material has been arbitrary, the 
fact nevertheless remains that in the child can be found all 
the elements that, united, made man a religious being. 

As a suggestion in race pedagogy, it is well to remember 
that two millenniums of Christianity has not removed but only 
modified the old savage traits. Intellectually we have risen 
above the savage, but in the emotional nature we are about the 
same as ever. We have but to scratch the skin of the Ameri- 
can soldier to find the Tartar, and we have only to go among 
the most refined American homes and schools to find the old 
race superstitions surviving in about their pristine strength. 
A man cannot make himself over in one day, much less a race. 

This would be a dismal world indeed if every one were con- 
fined to cold facts in speech. This survival of animistic ideas 
in children is proof of its necessity in the development of the 
race and individual. 

Cases like those reported by Dr. Gould often cause parents 
no little alarm, but the child will certainly come out safely if 
left to himself. 



FETICHISM IN CHILDREN 



299 



Thanks are due to Dr. Hall for suggestions and material ; 
also to Miss Power of the Home School for collecting much 
of the data upon which this paper is based. 

G. Harold Ellis 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Black, William G. Folk Medicine. Folklore Society Publications, 
London, 1883. 228 pages. 

Brinton, Daniel G. Religion of Primitive Peoples. G. P. Putnam's 
Sons, New York, 1898. 264 pages. 

Chamberlain, Alexander F. The Child : A Study in the Evolution of 
Man (Contemporary Science Series). W. Scott, Ltd., London, 1903. 
498 pages. 

Deniker, Joseph. The Races of Man (Contemporary Science Series), 
London, 1900. 611 pages. 

Ellis, Alfred B. The Tshi-Speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of 
West Africa. Chapman & Hall, London, 1887. 343 pages. 

Gould, George M. " Child Fetiches," Pedagogical Setninmy, Vol. V, 
pp. 421-425, January, 1895. 

Gregor, Waller. Folklore of the North-East of Scotland. Folklore 
Society Publications, London, 1881. 238 pages. 

Grimm, Jakob. Teutonic Mythology. G. Bell & Sons, London, 1882- 
1888. 4 vols. 

Guillet, Cephas. " Recapitulation and Education," Pedagogical Semi- 
nary^ Vol. VII, pp. 397-445, October, 1900. 

Hall, G. Stanley. "A Study of ¥ qaxs,,'' American Jour7tal 0/ Psychology , 
Vol. VIII, pp. 147-249, January, 1897. 

Henderson, William. Folklore of the Northern Counties of England 
and the Borders. Folklore Society Publications, London. 391 pages. 

Johnson, John H. Rudimentary Society among Boys. McDonogh, 
Maryland, 1893. 66 pages. 

Kline, Linus W. "The Migratory Impulse versus the Love of Home," 
American Journal of Psychology, Vol. X, pp. 1-81, October, 1898. 

Sebillot, Paul. " The Worship of Stones in France," Ainerican 
Anthropologist., N.S., Vol. IV, pp. 76-107, 1902. 

Sikes, William. British Goblins. Osgood, Boston, 188 1. 412 pages. 

Spencer, Herbert. Principles of Sociology, Vol. I. D. Appleton & 
Co., New York, 1882. 838 pages. 

Tylor, Edward B. Primitive Culture. Henry Holt & Co., New York, 
1888. 2 vols. 



BOY LIFE IN A MASSACHUSETTS COUNTRY 
TOWN FORTY YEARS AGO i 

Between the ages of nine and fourteen my parents, who 
then hved in a distant town, very wisely permitted me to 
spend most of the schoolless part of these five years, so crit- 
ical for a boy's development, with a large family on a large 
farm in Ashfield of this state. Although this joyous period 
ended long ago, the life, modes of thought and feeling, indus- 
tries, dress, etc., were very old-fashioned for that date, and 
were tenaciously and proudly kept so. In more recent years, 
as I have come to believe that nowhere does the old New 
England life still persist more strongly or can be studied 
more objectively, I have spent portions of several summers, 
with the aid of a small fund placed in my hands for the pur- 
pose, in collecting old farm tools, household utensils, furniture, 
articles of dress, and hundreds of miscellaneous old objects 
into a local museum, a little after the fashion of the museums 
of Plymouth, Salem, and Deerfield. I have interviewed all the 
oldest inhabitants for details of customs, industries, persons, 
become interested in a map of the original farms, verified in 
part by old walls and cellar holes and apple trees, and compiled 
a brief history of the town. My vacation interest grew into a 
record, partly because so many facts of the early life and 
thoughts of old New England are still unrecorded and are now 
so fast passing beyond the reach of record, with the lamented 
decay of these little old towns, partly because despite certain 
evils this life at its best appears to me to have constituted 
about the best educational environment for boys at a certain 

1 Reprinted from Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, N.s., 
Vol. VII, pp. 107-128, 1891. 

300 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 301 

stage of their development ever realized in history, combining 
physical, industrial, technical with civil and religious elements 
in wise proportions and pedagogic objectivity. Again, this 
mode of life is the one and the only one that represents the 
ideal basis of a state of citizen voters as contemplated by the 
framers of our institutions. Finally, it is more and more 
refreshing in our age, and especially in the vacation mood, to 
go back to sources, to the fresh primary thoughts, feelings, 
beliefs, modes of life of simple, homely, genuine men. Our 
higher anthropology labors to start afresh from the common 
vulgar standpoint as Socrates did, from what Maurice calls the 
Ethos and Grote the Nomas of common people, and of a just 
preceding and a vanishing type of civilization, to be warmed 
with its experience and saturated with its local color. 

I have freely eked out the boyish memory of those five 
years with that of older persons, but everything that follows 
was in Ashfield within the memory of people living there a 
few years ago. Time allows me to present here but a small 
part of the entire record, to sample here and there, and to 
show a few obvious lessons. 

I begin with winter, when men's industries were most diver- 
sified, and were largely in wood. Lumber, or timber, trees were 
chopped down and cut by two men working a crosscut saw, 
which was always getting stuck fast, in a pinch which took 
the set out of it, unless the whole trunk was pried up by 
skids. Sometimes the fallen trees were cut into logs, snaked 
together, and piled with the aid of cant hooks, to be drawn 
across the frozen pond to the sawmill for some contemplated 
building, or, if of spruce, of straight grain and few knots, or of 
good rift, they were cut in bolts, or cross sections, of fifteen 
inches long, which was the legal length for shingles. These 
were taken home in a pung, split with beetle and wedge, and 
then with a frow, and finished off with a drawshave on a 
shaving horse, itself homemade. These rive shingles were 



302 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

thought far more durable than those cut into shape by the 
buzz saw, which does not follow the grain. To be of prime 
quality these must be made of heart and not sap wood, nor 
of second-growth trees. The shavings were in wide demand 
for kindling fires. Ax helves, too, were sawed, split, hewed, 
whittled, and scraped into shape with bits of broken glass, and 
the forms peculiar to each local maker were as characteristic 
as the style of painter or poet, and were widely known, com- 
pared, and criticised. Butter paddles were commonly made of 
red cherry, while sugar lap paddles were made by merely bark- 
ing whistlewood or bass and whittling down one end for a 
handle. Mauls and beetles were made of ash knots, oxbows 
of walnut, held in 'shape till seasoned by withes of yellow 
birch, from which also birch brushes and brooms were manu- 
factured on winter evenings by stripping down seams of wood 
in the green. There were salt mortars and pig troughs made 
from solid logs with tools hardly more effective than those 
the Indian uses for his dugout. Flails for next year's thresh- 
ing ; cheese hoops and cheese ladders ; bread troughs, and 
yokes for hogs and sheep, and pokes for jumping cattle, 
horses and unruly geese, and stanchions for cows. Some took 
this season for cutting next summer's bean and hop poles, pea 
bush, cart and sled stakes, with an eye always out for a straight 
clean whipstock or fish pole. Repairs were made during this 
season, and a new cat hole beside the door, with a laterally 
working drop lid, which the cat operated with ease, was made 
one winter. New sled neaps, and fingers for the grain cradle, 
handles for shovels and dungforks, pitchforks, spades, spuds, 
hoes, and, a little earlier, for rakes ; scythes and brooms were 
homemade, and machines and men of special trades were so 
far uncalled for. Nearly all these forms of domestic wood- 
work I saw, and even helped in as a boy of ten might, or imi- 
tated them in play in those thrice-happy days ; while in elder 
popguns, with a ringing report, that were almost dangerous 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 303 

indoors ; hemlock bows and arrows, or crossbows with arrow- 
heads run on with melted lead (for which every scrap of 
lead pipe or antique pewter dish was in great demand), often 
fatal for very small game ; box and figure-4 traps for rats 
and squirrels ; windmills ; weathervanes in the form of fish, 
roosters, or even ships ; an actual sawmill that went in the 
brook, and cut planks with Marino and black and white Carter 
potatoes for logs ; and many whittled tools, toys, and orna- 
mental forms and puppets ; in making all these and many 
more I even became in a short time a fairly average expert 
as compared with other boys, at least so I then thought. 
How much all this has served me since, in the laboratory, 
in daily life, and even in the study, it would be hard to 
estimate. 

The home industry in woolen is a good instance of one which 
survives in occasional families to this day. Sheep, as I remem- 
ber, could thrive on the poorest hay or oats, the leavings of 
the neat cattle. In summer they could eat brakes and poly- 
pods, if not even hardback and tansy, and would browse down 
berry briers and underbrush, while their teeth cut the grass 
so close that cows could hardly survive in the same pasture 
with them. The spring lambs were raised in the shed by 
hand, sometimes as cossets by the children, who often derived 
their first savings therefrom. Sheep-washing day was a gala 
day, when, if at no other time, liquor was used against exposure ; 
and shearing, which came a week or two later, was hardly less 
interesting. A good shearer, who had done his twenty-five 
head a day, commanded good wages, — seventy-five cents or a 
dollar a day ; while the boys must pull the dead sheep, even 
though they were only found after being some weeks defunct. 
Fleeces for home use were looked over, all burrs and shives 
picked out, and they were then oiled with poor lard. " Bees " 
were often held to do this. Carding early became specialized, 
and carders were in every town, but the implements were in 



304 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



each family, some members of which could not only card but 
could even use the fine, long-toothed worsted combs in an 
emergency. The rolls were spun at home, novices doing the 
woof or filling, and the older girls the warp, which must be 
of better quality. It was taken from the spindle sometimes on 
a niddy-noddy held in the hand, at two rounds per yard, but 
more commonly on a reel, in rounds of two yards each. Every 
forty rounds was signalized on a reel by the snap of a wooden 
spring or the fall of a hammer, and constituted a knot, four, 
five, seven, or ten of which (in different families and for 
different purposes) constituted a skein and twenty knots 
made a run. Four seven-knotted skeins of filling or six of 
warp was a day's work, though now, I am told, few young 
women can accomplish so much without excessive fatigue. 
The yarn, doubled if for stocking, after being washed clean of 
grease, next went to the great dye tub in the chimney corner. 
Butternut bark for everyday suits, indigo for Sunday suits, 
and madder for shirting was the rule. There were also fancy 
dyes and fancy dyeing, braiding, binding tightly or twisting 
in a white thread to get the favorite hit or miss, or pepper- 
and-salt effect, a now almost incredible ingenuity in making 
up figures and fancy color effects for loom patterns in 
girls' dresses. Next the filling was quilled and the warp 
spooled, the former ready for the shuttle and the latter for the 
warping bars (both of these latter being often homemade), 
to which it goes from the scarn or spool frame. In warping, 
the leese must be taken with care, for if the order of the 
threads is lost they cannot be properly thumbed through the 
harnesses and hooked through the reed, and are good for 
nothing but to make into clotheslines and the piece is lost. 
A raddle also acts in keeping the warp disentangled and of 
proper width before the lathe and tenters can hold it. Some- 
times blue and white shirt-formed frock cloth was woven, 
sometimes kerseys and plaid dress patterns of many colors, or 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 305 

woolen sheets and even woolen pillowcases, which were as 
warm and heavy, although coarser, than those the olfactorial 
zoologist, Jager, advises and sells to his followers. The com- 
plication of harnesses and treadles required to weave some of 
the more complicated carpet, and especially coverlid, patterns 
evinced great ingenuity and long study, and is probably now, 
although the combinations were carefully written down, in most 
communities a forever lost art. On coming from the loom the 
cloth was wet for shrinkage and the nap picked up with cards 
of home-grown teasels and sheared smooth on one side, 
although in those days this process had already gone to the 
local fuller. Coarse yarn was also spun from taglocks, which 
were, of course, home carded. Knitting was easy, pretty, visit- 
ing work. Girls earned from two to three York shillings a 
pair for men's stockings, paid in trade from the store, which 
put out such work if desired. Shag mittens were knit from 
thrums or the left-over ends of warp. Nubias and sontags 
were knit with large wooden needles, and men's gloves, tidies, 
and clock stockings with ornamental openwork in the sides 
were knit with one hook, and the tape loom, held between the 
knees, was kept going evenings. 

Domestic flax industry still lingers in a few families. The 
seed was sown broadcast and grew till the bolls were ripe, 
when it was pulled and laid in rows by the boys and whipped, 
in a few days, to get the seed for meal. After lying out of 
doors for some weeks till the shives were rotten, it was put 
through the process of breaking on the ponderous flax-brake. 
It was then swingled, hatcheled, and finally hanked. It was 
then wound on the distaff made of a young spruce top, and 
drawn out for spinning. Grasshopper years, when the fiber 
was short, this was hard, and though ticking, meal bags, and 
scratchy tow shirts could be made, finer linen products were 
impossible. After weaving it must be bleached in a good qual- 
ity of air. 



306 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

However it was with adults, child life was full of amuse- 
ments. Children were numerous in every neighborhood, and 
though they were each required to be useful, they were in 
early years left much to themselves and were at home in every 
house, barn, or shed within a mile or more. There was, of 
course, coasting, skating, swimming, goal, fox and hounds, and 
snowballing, with choosing of sides, lasting for a whole school 
term, with elaborate forts ; cart wheel and men o' morn's in 
the snow ; collar and elbow, or square-hold wrestling, with its 
many different trips, locks, and play-ups, — side and back hold 
being unscientific ; round ball ; two and four old cat, with soft 
yarn balls thrown at the runner. The older " girl-boys " spent 
the hour's nooning in the schoolhouse and either paired off 
for small games or talks, or played " Here we stand all round 
this ring," "Needle's eye," " Kitty corners," or "Who 's got 
the button." As in the age of Shakespeare the queen's maids 
of honor played tag, so here all children and even adults often 
played children's games with gusto. In the family, as they gath- 
ered about the stove, or sometimes about the grand old fire- 
place in the back kitchen, with its backlog, crane, pothooks, 
and trammels, there were stories of the old fort, of bears, wild 
cats, Indians and Bloody Brook, and other probably unprinted 
tales perhaps many generations old. There were some who 
could sing old English ballads that had come down by tradition, 
and which had never been in print in America, and more who 
could sing a comic song or pathetic negro melody. Lord Lovel, 
Irving, Bunyan, The Youth's Companion, and many Sunday- 
school books were read aloud. A pair of skates was earned by 
a boy friend one winter by reading the entire Bible through, and 
another bought an accordion with money earned by braiding 
for the women the plain sides of palm-leaf hats where no splic- 
ing was needed, at a cent per side. All families allowed the 
game of fox and geese, a few permitted checkers, and one, 
backgammon, which was generally thought to be almost 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 



307 



gambling ; dominoes were barely tolerated, but riddles, rebuses, 
and charades were in high favor by old and young, and were 
published in all the local weekly papers. It was here that I 
learned that card playing, which I had often seen before but did 
not much understand nor care for, was very wrong, and a boy 
friend was taught old sledge and euchre up over the horse 
sheds on Sundays between services by an older son of the 
officiating minister. There were "hull gull," cat's cradle with 
two series of changes, string and knot puzzles, odd and even, 
and most of the games and many more than those in Mr. 
Newell's charming and largely original book entitled, TJie 
Games and Songs of American Children^ connecting many of 
them conclusively with the sports and pastimes of the English 
people in the merry olden time of Brand. One maiden lady, 
whom we all loved, could spell "the abominable bumblebee 
with his head cut off " in an inverse house-that-Jack-built 
fashion, with a most side-splitting effect. There was the 
charming story of the big, little, and middle-sized bear, and I 
recall the thrill when at the turn of the story, " the dog began 
to worry the cat, the cat began to kill the rat, the rat began 
to eat the corn," etc. There were beechnutting and chest- 
nutting parties, raisings, and days set apart for all the men 
in the district being warned out by the surveyor to gather and 
work on the roads with teams. Work was easy, as it was for 
the town, and stories were plenty. There were huskings, with 
cider and pumpkin pie, and games on the barn floor when it 
was cleared of corn ; paring bees, with bobbing, swinging a 
whole paring thrice around the head, thence to fall on the floor 
in the form of the fancied initial of some person of the other 
sex ; and counting seeds to the familiar doggerel, " one I love, 
two I love, three I love I say, four I love with all my heart, 
and five I cast away, etc." Here the apples were quartered and 
strung, and hung in festoons to dry all over the kitchen. 
There were quilting bees for girls about to marry, where the 



3o8 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

men came in the evening and partook of the new species of 
rice popcorn, served in two large milk pans, with perhaps 
the most delicious homemade spruce and wintergreen beer. 
Spelling schools in which the parents took part, and where the 
champion spellers of rural districts, after exhausting several 
spelling books, agreed to spell each other down on an abridged 
Worcester's dictionary. There were weekly evening singing 
schools in winter, and several of us taught ourselves or each 
other to play the accordion and fiddle by rote, to dance single 
and double shuffle on a board and the steps of waltz, polka, 
and schottische. Even square dances were attempted to our 
own music, if we could get a " caller-off." This latter was here 
a stolen sweet, as was the furtive reading of the thrilling tales 
of the Nezv York Ledger, especially those of Sylvanus Cobb, 
sets of which were smuggled around among the boys and read 
after retiring, or in sheep shed, haymow, or attic on rainy 
days. I must not forget the rage for trapping and hunting, by 
which we learned much of the habits of crows, hawks, musk- 
rats, woodchucks, squirrels, partridges, and even foxes, and 
which made us acquainted with wide areas of territory. In a 
regular squirrel hunt, organized by choosing sides, and a din- 
ner to the victors paid for by the vanquished party, as deter- 
mined by counting tails, boys of my age were not old enough 
to participate. We made collections, however, for whole sea- 
sons, of heads, legs, wings, and tails, as well as of woods, 
leaves, flowers, stones, bugs, butterflies, etc. 

The dull days in haying time brought another sort of educa- 
tion. The men of the vicinity strolled together in a shed, and, 
sitting on tool bench, grindstone, manger, wagons, chopping 
blocks, and hog spouts, discussed crop prices, ditching, wall- 
ing, salting cattle, finding springs with witch-hazel, taxes, the 
preaching, the next selectmen, fence viewer, constable, and, I 
suppose a little earlier, wardens, leather sealers, deer reeves, 
surveyors of shingles and clapboards and of wheat, field drivers, 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 309 

tithing men, clerk of the market, and pound keepers, as well 
as the good brooks and ponds for trouting or snaring pickerel 
with brass-wire loops and a white-birch-bark light at night, 
and every sort of gossip. The old uncles who came to be the 
heroes of current stories, and who were, in a sense, ideal men, 
were shrewd and sharp, of exceeding few words, but these 
oracular, of most unpromising exteriors and mode of speech, 
with quaint and eccentric ways which made their quintessen- 
tial wisdom very surprising by the contrast ; while in weather 
signs and in drugs the old Indian was sometimes the sage. At 
the opposite extreme was the unseasoned fellow who can be 
fooled and not get the best of it if he was "run" or played 
some practical joke. Absurd exaggerations told with a serious 
air, to test the hearer's knowledge or credulity, were the chief 
ingredients of this lowery-day wit. Thus the ass's head was 
not unfrequently clapped on some poor rich fellow, green from 
the city or some larger town, suspected of the unpardonable 
sin of being "stuck up." 

In this air a good " nag " has great viability. As a boy here, 
e.g., I often played hunt, snapping a disabled old flintlock 
musket at every live thing in field and forest, for which an 
adult neighbor used to " run " me unmercifully before the 
whole shed. Years after, when I was at home on a college 
outing, he had not forgotten it, and for perhaps a dozen sum- 
mers since I have met it. On a recent evening, when walking 
with a dignified city friend, he met me with the same old 
grind, "Hello, huntin' much this summer with Philander's old 
gun .? " as he slapped his thighs and laughed till the hills rang, 
and, though I did not hear him, I am no less certain that he 
said to the neighbor with him, when they had ridden well by, 
that I was always a pretty middlin' good sort of a fellow after 
all, and was n't stuck up. The joke will no doubt keep fresh 
another quarter of a century if my friend lives, and there are 
many more of the same kind. Another grind at my expense 



3IO CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

illustrates the inventive cleverness of this old Yankee type. 
As one of the speakers at an annual dinner in honor of the 
old town academy, I had been several times introduced as a 
specimen of the former students of the academy. One night, 
at the crowded post office, this shrewd old farmer told, in my 
presence and for my benefit, the story of old Joe W., who went 
on the road as a drummer for the old tannery. He said Joe 
had just experienced religion, and was just then so all-fired 
honest that he selected, as the samples he was to sell from, 
pieces of sole leather a trifle below the average quality, instead 
of above, as an i.honest drummer should do. He was afraid to 
hope that Professor N., who presided at the dinner, had expe- 
rienced treligion, but leastways he was so all-fired honest that 
he leaned over backwards worse than old Joe in calling me out 
as a sample academy boy, for although I was middling smart 
there was not a boy of them who was n't a plaguy sight 
smarter than I was. Another of his stories was of Stephen 
and Ann. They were courting, and she had sat in his lap in 
the kitchen one Sunday evening for some hours, when she sud- 
denly asked if he was not tired. He gallantly replied, " Not a 
mite, Ann ; keep right on settin'. I was awful tired an hour 
ago, but now I am numb." That is the way, he said, it was 
probably with my hearers and pupils. 

Then there was the story of old Deacon S., who sold home- 
made cider brandy, or twisted cider, at the rate of twenty-five 
cents per gallon, but who always used to get his big thumb 
into the quart measure, which had lost its handle, displacing 
its cubic contents of brandy. There was another tale of Cap- 
tain A., who, being cheated in a horse trade by Mr. B., called 
all his sons and grandsons together solemnly, as if for family 
prayers, told them the circumstances, and enjoined them to 
cheat B. back to the amount of six dollars, and if they did not 
live to do it, to teach their children and grandchildren to cheat 
his descendants to the end of time ; but a few months later, 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 311 

after another trade with B., the captain convened his family 
again to say that the score had been paid with interest, and to 
release them from the covenant. There was the story of Uncle 
G., who began his courtship by " creepin' in, all unbeknown," 
behind his best girl, stealing up close behind her as she was 
washing dishes, hat on and chair in hand, with the salute, 
" Well, Sal, feel kind'er sparky to-night ? " to which she coquet- 
tishly but encouragingly replied, "Well, I reckon p'r'aps a 
lee tie more sorter than sorter not "; and how at last, the minis- 
ter being away, they rode together on one horse twenty miles 
alone, and were married. There was the legend of old Squire 
v., who used to be a great favorite with the girls. Driving up 
to the town clerk's door one day he told him to have him 
"published" the next Sunday with Miss B., and drove off. 
Soon he returned and desired the name changed to Miss C, 
and finally, after several changes and some minutes of profound 
deliberation, settled on Miss H., whom he married. There 
was the tale of the turning of the Deerfield River by the two 
great but mystic ancestors of one family in town. It once 
flowed down the gap in Mr. P.'s pasture, through the pond 
and over the plain of the village, and was stipulated as the 
northern boundary of the possessions of these pioneers. They 
were ambitious, and had noticed that new settlers and their 
depredations followed rivers, so they hired hundreds of Indians 
to dig with sharpened sticks, day and night, one entire sum- 
mer, till the stream at length washed down over a more north- 
erly valley so suddenly as to sweep away the dusky maiden 
beloved by one of the pioneers ; with many other romantic in- 
cidents. There was the story of the old horse-jockey G., who 
in his travels found a negro of great strength, but so simple as 
to agree to work for him a hundred years, on the expiration of 
which time the old jockey was to give him all the property and 
serve him a century ; and who cured him of the inveterate 
habit of sucking eggs by showing him a dozen, apparently 



312 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



freshly laid, in his bed one morning just after he had risen, 
and frightening him out of the practice by convincing him that 
he had laid the eggs while he slept. There was the story of 
the old cat ground up in the mill, with dreadful caterwaulings, 
and of the two bushels of good rye required to grind the mill- 
stones clean again. Another was of the case, famous in his- 
tory, of the nonconforming Baptist deacon who would not pay 
his town tax to support the Congregational preaching, and 
whose apple trees were dug up by the constable and sold for 
payment ; of the deacon's going to Boston to the General 
Court, and of his return with a barrel of cider brandy drawn 
on two poles strapped together, one end of each in the hold- 
backs and the other end dragging on the ground. There were 
stories of a noted lady pioneer in the cause of female education, 
who solicited domestic utensils and produce of every kind for 
a young ladies' seminary, following the men into stable and 
around haymow in her quest ; of old Heeper, suspected of 
witchcraft, who lived apart and was buried outside the ceme- 
tery ; of old Sloper, who had no friends, and vanished so mys- 
teriously that gradually a detailed story of his murder by a 
prominent but not beloved citizen was evolved ; of the old 
church, stone cold in winter, with two services and sermons 
from ten to four, and in summer with the rocks black at noon- 
ing with people, mostly members in close communion, eating 
their Sunday dinner and picking caraway or meetin' seed ; of 
the waste of timber or the greed of individuals in shacking 
hogs on the then extensive undivided land, or common, and 
even of the secular variations of the compass to account for 
the disparity between the old surveys of boundary lines and 
new ones. 

Evenings in the kitchen were spent in light work and gos- 
sip unremitting. Candles, in olden times before cotton, it is 
said, were made by loosely spinning tow wicking. Candle rods 
were then whittled out or cut from cat-tails, on which wicking 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 



3^3 



for a dozen candles was put, and they were hung over the back 
of an old, high, straight-backed chair tipped down, and dipped 
every few minutes in beef, or, better, mutton tallow melted in 
the tin boiler. Of course candles grew faster on cold days, but 
were more likely to crack. Good iron candlesticks were rare, 
and at balls and parties potatoes and wooden blocks were used. 
The evolution, I have heard, was first a " slut," or linen rag in 
fat, or a bowl of woodchuck's oil with a floating wick through 
a wooden button. Later came a square strip of fat pork with 
a thin sliver of wood thrust through to stiffen it and serve as a 
wick. Fire could still be made by friction of wood in an emer- 
gency. The best-raked fire would sometimes go out, and then 
fire must be borrowed from a neighbor. Those who wished to 
be independent obtained tinder boxes with flint and iron, * 
smudged tow, and punk. Homemade matches, with brimstone 
and saltpeter, would catch readily, but friction matches were a 
great novelty. One of these friction matches, also homemade, 
of spruce lumber, by the boys, was " drawed " by their incredu- 
lous father, who, when he found it would really go, put it care- 
fully in his pocket for future use. 

The ideal hearth and fireplace of olden times (restored at 
Plymouth, and especially at Deerfield, Massachusetts, by 
George Sheldon) was indeed the center about which the 
whole family system revolved. On the swinging crane, 
evolved from the earlier wooden lug pole, hung from pot- 
hooks, chains, and trammels several species of iron pots and 
brass kettles, in front of a green backlog so big and long that 
it was sometimes snaked in by a horse. Below, attached to 
the upright part of the andirons, was the turnspit dog, revolved 
by hand, and sometimes, at a later date, by clockwork, for 
fancy roasts. There were roasters and dripping pans, and the 
three-legged spider in which bread was baked, first on the 
bottom and then tipped up to the coals, or else the top was 
done by a heavy, red-hot iron cover. Here rye used to be 



314 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

roasted and mortared for coffee, which was later boiled in 
water and maple molasses. On the shelf or beam above the 
fire stood the foot stove, a horn of long and another of short 
paper lamplighters ; a sausage stuffer ; tin lanthorn ; mortar; 
chafing dish ; runlet ; noggin ; flatirons, perhaps of new fashion, 
hollowed for hot iron chunks ; tinder box ; tankard ; and coffee 
pots ; and high above all a bayoneted flint gun or two, with 
belt, bayonet sheath, brush, and primer. Overhead on the pole 
hung always a hat or cap on the end, and perhaps a haunch 
of dried beef, with possibly a ham, a calf's rennet stretched 
with a springy willow stick inside ; pumpkins cut into long 
ringlets ; bundles of red peppers ; braided seed corn and dried 
apples, the latter also perhaps half covering the roof and south 
' side of the house. About the fireplace stood or hung the bed 
warmer, the tongs, and long " slice," a hollow gourd or crooked- 
necked squash ; candle holders with long tin reflectors ; bel- 
lows ; woolen holders ; toasting irons ; smoking tongs ; pewter 
porringer ; spoon molds ; trivet ; skillet and piggin ; a tin 
kitchen ; a tin baker and steamer ; a flip iron ; the big dye tub 
always in the corner, and the high -backed settle in front. 
Near by stood the cupboard, displaying the best blue crockery, 
and the pewter, kept bright by scouring with horsetails 
(equisetum) ; sealed measures and a few liquids, and perhaps 
near by a pumpkin Jack-o'-lantern, with an expression, when it 
was lighted in the dark, as hideous as that of the head of an 
Alaskan totem post. 

The grandma was both nurse and doctor, and the children 
had to gather for her each year a supply of herbs. Chief 
among these were pennyroyal, tansy, spearmint, peppermint, 
catnip, thoroughwort, motherwort, liverwort, mugwort, ele- 
campane, burdock, mayweed, dogweed, fireweed, ragweed, 
pokeweed, aconite, arnica, scratch grass, valerian, lobelia, lark- 
spur, mullein, mallow, plaintain, foxglove or nightshade, osier, 
fennel, sorrel, comfrey, rue, saffron, flag, anise, snakeroot 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 315 

yarrow, balmony, tag alder, witch-hazel, and blood root. Each 
of these, and many more, had specific medicinal properties,, 
and hung in rows of dried bunches in the attic, and all 
grew in Ashfield. In Mr. Cockayne's Leechdoms, Wortciin- 
ning, and Starcraft, a remarkable collection of Anglo-Saxon 
medical prescriptions, I have identified the same symptoms for 
which the same herb was the specific, showing how this un- 
written medical lore, as Mr. Mooney calls it in his interesting 
pamphlet, survives and persists unchanged. 

The attic floor was covered a foot deep with corn on the ear, 
to be shelled winter evenings by scraping across the back of a 
knife driven into a board, the cobs being fed out to stock or 
used for baking and smoking fires. Here too were tins and 
boxes, and barrels of rye and barley, and later oats, wheat, 
and buckwheat. In the corner stood or hung, perhaps, a 
hand winnower, a tub of frozen cider apple sauce, an old hat 
and wig block, a few woodchucks' skins to be made into whip- 
lashes, a coon skin for a cap, a hand still for making cider 
brandy or twisted cider. So, too, the cellar, shed, hog house, 
barn, sheep and horse barn, sugar house and corn house were 
stored with objects of perennial interest to boys. 

The " sense of progress," which a recent psychological writer 
calls a special though lately evolved sense, was by no means 
undeveloped. Men loved to tell of old times, when maple sap 
was caught in rough troughs made with an ax, and stored by 
being simply turned in their places ; to show the marks on old 
maple trees, where their grandfathers tapped by chipping with 
a hatchet and driving in a basswood spout made at a blow 
with the same iron gouge that prepared for its insertion, and 
to describe how, later, the rough unpainted tubs with unbarked 
hoops, and, because smaller at the top, so hard to store and 
carry, and so liable to burst by the expansion of the ice on 
freezing, were superseded by the Shaker pails. The old days 
when sap was gathered by hand with a sap yoke, and stored 



3i6 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

in long troughs and boiled out of doors in a row of kettles on 
a pole or crotches, were talked over, with complacent pity, 
perhaps, while modern pans on a new arch and in a new sugar 
house were kept going all night during a big run which had 
filled every tun and hogshead, while the best trees were run- 
ning over. 

Hour glasses, especially to spin by, and dials were some- 
times used, and there were many noon marks at intervals over 
the farm. In many families, even where coal and kerosene 
stoves are used, along with wood, oven wood is still cut for the 
old brick oven, which Christmas time, at least, if not once 
every week or two through the winter, is heated and then 
swept out with a wet birch broom. First, the rye and Indian 
bread is made up in a bread trough and then put on the broad, 
meal-sprinkled peel, with hands dipped in water to avoid stick- 
ing, and very dexterously thrown in haycock and windrow 
shapes, perhaps on cabbage leaves, on to the bottom of the 
oven. When this was done it was still so hot that pies could 
be baked, and, last of all, a bushel of apples was thrown in and 
the week's baking was over. Many could then tell of the time 
when, with pudding or mashed potatoes and milk for the meal, 
no table was set, but each took a bowl of milk and helped him- 
self from the kettle on the stone ; or again, the family gathered 
about the well-scoured table, with no individual plates or 
butter knives, or waiting on the table, but each took a slice of 
bread and helped himself from the meat dish, or dipped the 
brown bread into the pork fat with forks. Wooden, pewter, 
then earthen plates, was the order of evolution. So, in the 
dairy, milk used to be set in wooden trays, then in thick, 
brown earthen bowls, before the modern milk pans came into 
vogue. The evolution of the skimmer from the clam shell, 
through a rough wooden skimmer ; of churning, from a bowl 
and paddle on to the old dasher churn ; of straining milk, from 
the linen rag strainer up ; of bails, from the ear and peg 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 317 

fashion on ; the history of the artistic forms of butter balls 
and the stamps used ; the very gradual development of the 
scythe snath, which no artist ever represents correctly, to the 
present highly physiological and very sharply discriminated 
forms, as well as of the hoe and pitchfork ; why are not these 
and the growth of the cornsheller, hencoop, plow, mop ; 
the story of the penstock ; the broom, from a bush or bundle of 
twigs up through the birch broom with fibers stripped both 
up and down ; of window transparencies, from the whole and 
oiled paper, etc., as scientific anthropological themes as the 
evolution of the fishhook, arrowhead, and spear ? Why is not 
the old soap-making process, with the lye, strong enough to 
support an egg, dripping from the ash barrel on the circularly 
grooved board or stone, and the out-of-doors boiling and basket 
straining, etc. ; why is not the old-fashioned semiannual geese- 
picking day, with the big apron, great, vase-shaped goose basket, 
and the baby's stocking drawn over the goose's head to keep 
it from biting ; why is not cheese making, when the milk from 
three families was gathered in a big tub, coagulated with a 
calf's rennet, broken up into curds and whey by the fingers, 
scalded, chopped, salted, perhaps saged, hooped, turned, and 
pared of those delicious curds, and daily greased all summer ; 
why is not the high festivity of road breaking in winter, when 
all the men and oxen in the neighborhood, often twenty yokes 
of oxen in one team, turned out after a long storm and blow to 
break out the roads, which the town had not discontinued for 
the winter, to church, stores, doctor, and school, when steers 
were broken in, sandwiched between the yokes of old cattle, 
where, often up to their backs in a drift, with a sled to which 
plows were chained to each side and a dozen men and boys 
on it, they could only wait, frightened and with lolling tongue, 
to be shoveled out ; why are not the antique ceremonies and 
sequelae of butchering day, and the fun and games with pluck 
and lights and sausages, which city-bred boys were told, and 



3i8 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

said to believe, were caught like fish ; the process of making 
pearl ash and birch vinegar ; cider making ; the manifold sum- 
mer beers and other domestic drinks, etc., quite as worthy of 
investigation, of illustration in museums, as the no more rap- 
idly vanishing customs of savage tribes ? 

At the place and time of which I write many domestic indus- 
tries were more or less specialized. Farmers' sons often went 
away to learn trades. Broom making, e.g., was the evening 
occupation of one member of the family I knew, and I saw the 
process of planting, breaking, tabling, hatcheling, for the seed 
was worth about the price of oats, bleaching with brimstone 
in a big "down cellar," etc. Tying was the most interesting 
process. It included arranging the hurls, braiding down the 
stalks on the handle with wire, pressing in the great vise, and 
sewing with a six-inch needle, thimbled through by leather palms. 
I was allowed to sandpaper the handles, and once, in a time of 
stress, when a man was making forty plain Shaker brooms per 
day, even to put on the gold leaf. The local tanner allowed us 
to run among his vats and see the hides salted, pickled, washed, 
and limed, and, best of all, skived over the big beam. Last 
summer this tanner told me he believed his eighteen months in 
tanning an ox hide and the six weeks required by modern 
chemical methods represented about the relative durability of 
the two leathers. His trade has lasted on, despite such com- 
petition, because his townsmen have something the same idea. 
Within boy range, too, was a cooper's shop, a gunsmith, a 
family who made baskets, a small carding mill, turning shops 
where wooden spoons, bowls, sieve rims, pen handles, plain 
broom handles, etc., were made, a general tinker and solderer, 
besides carpenters, blacksmiths, shoe and harness makers. 
Some farmers specialized more or less in sheep ; others in 
young cattle, or pigs and horses. Some were always lucky 
with corn, others with rye or wheat, buckwheat, potatoes, 
grass, etc., to which they had mainly settled after much 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 319 

experiment, or to which the traditions of the farm or family 
inchned them. Thus, in fine, there were many grades of 
progress and versatiHty. Many of these old home industries 
I can still practice and have added to them by "lessons" in 
Germany. All come handy in the laboratory. I know I could 
make soap, maple sugar, a pair of shoes, braid a palm-leaf hat, 
spin, put in and weave a piece of frocking or a rag carpet, do 
crude carpentry, farm and dairy work, and I envy the pupils 
at Tuskegee who can do more of these things and better 
than I. -"-^ 

I have alluded to but few of the occupations of these people. 
Their commonest industries — planting, fertilizing, gathering 
each crop — have been revolutionized by machinery and artifi- 
cial fertilization within twenty-five years. These, together with 
their religion and beliefs, domestic social customs, and methods 
of doing their small business, are all fast changing. The women 
are haggard and worn with their work, the men are sometimes 
shiftless, and children are very rare. The heart of these com- 
munities has left it, and only the shell remains. The quaint, 
eccentric characters that abound in these towns, types of which 
may be found faithfully depicted by Mary E. Wilkins or in 
Mary B. Claflin's Brampton Sketches, or in a few of the 
sketches in Profitable Tales, by Eugene Field, are for the 
most part types of degeneration well recognized by alienists and 
characterized by Morel. These are quite different from the no 
less rustic characters in De Gaspe's Canadians of Old, or the 
Work of Du Prays School. Life then and there, although per- 
haps a century or more later than that described in the 
books of Alice Morse Earle, did not differ much from it. 
Did the earlier generations work too hard in digging stumps 
and stones, and laying the hundreds of miles of heavy stone 
wall and clearing the timber.? Were the conditions of life 
too severe } Is our race not adapted to the new conditions 
of climate, soil, water, and, as Dr. Jarvis said, is it still a 



320 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 

problem whether the Anglo-Saxon race can thrive in its new 
American home, or is this but an incident, an eddy in the 
great onward current of progress ? I have no answer, but I 
know nothing more sad in our American life than the decay 
of these townlets. 

Nowhere has the great middle class been so all-controlling, 
furnished so large a proportion of scientific and business lead- 
ers, been so respectable, so well combined industry with wealth, 
bred patriotism, conservatism, and independence. The farm 
was a great laboratory, tending, perhaps, rather more to de- 
velop scientific than literary tastes, cultivating persistency, 
in which country boys excel, if at the expense of versatility. 
It is, says Professor Brewer, the question with city parents 
what useful thing the children can do ; while in the country, 
where they are in great demand on the farm, they are, in a 
sense, members of the firm. Evenings are not dangerous to 
morality, but are turned to good account, while during the 
rowdy or adolescent age the boy tendency to revert to sav- 
agery can find harmless vent in hunting, trapping, and other 
ways less injurious to morals than the customs of city life. 

Some such training the heroes of '^6 had ; the independent 
conditions of communities like this was just the reverse of that 
of the South at the outbreak of the Rebellion ; such a people 
cannot be conquered, for war and blockade would only drive 
them back to more primitive conditions, and restore the old 
independence of foreign and even domestic markets. Again, 
should we ever have occasion to educate colonists, as England 
is now attempting, we could not do so better than by reviving 
conditions of life like these. 

I close by mentioning an interesting new educational exper- 
iment as a bright spot in this somber present, which was some- 
what feebly but happily tried in Ashfield, as a result of the 
recently awakened interest in its own antiquities. A prom- 
inent citizen, once a teacher, has studied from sources largely 



BOY LIFE IN A COUNTRY TOWN 



321 



unprinted the history of the town, which connects it with the 
Revolution, and even the French and Indian wars, and, on the 
lines of old maps he has made of the original town surveys, gave 
an hour per week during part of a winter to teaching history 
from a local standpoint in the little academy, with its score of 
pupils, and adding many of the antiquities such as this paper 
has referred to, with free use of the museum, and all with ex- 
cellent results. A village pastor, who is an excellent botanist, 
took the class a few times each year on excursions, and the 
older girls have gathered and pressed for him in a school mu- 
seum all the Ashfield plants and grasses, on the basis of which 
he taught a little botany gratuitously. The doctor cooper- 
ated with them and talked on physiology and hygiene, and 
brought his microscope and other instruments. A student of 
an agricultural college has gathered all the Ashfield rocks and 
minerals and taught geology. He has gathered cabinets of the 
local animals, birds, eggs, butterflies, and insects, which a 
summer resident makes a basis of some instruction. A sum- 
mer boarder was drafted in to teach drawing to all comers half 
a day per week. This experiment, in what I consider cooper- 
ative education, begins at home, with what is nearest and often 
despised. The local Faculty about the teacher give but little 
time, but their teaching is full of interest and stimulus. They 
strengthen the teacher whom they really guide, and bring 
home and school nearer together. This new curriculum is 
without expense, and altogether may prove a suggestive nov- 
elty. To-day old domestic industries of the age of the tinder 
box and stone milk pan and niddy-noddy are taught by a spe- 
cialist, Miss H. B. Merrill, to history classes from the city 
schools in turn in a central museum of American antiquities 
in Milwaukee. 

G. Stanley Hall 



;22 CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Brand, John. Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, 
G. Bell & Sons, London, 1882. 3 vols. 

Claflin, Mary B. Brampton Sketches : Old-Time New England Life. 
T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York, 1890. 158 pages. 

Cockayne, Oswald. Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft (pub- 
lished under direction of the Master of the Rolls). Longmans (and others), 
London, 1 864-1 866. 3 vols. 

De Gaspe, P. A. Canadians of Old (translated by Georgiana M. 
Penn^e). G. and G. E. Desbarats, 1864. 331 pages. 

Earle, Alice Morse. Child Life in Colonial Days. Macmillan, New 
York, 1899. 418 pages. 

Earle, Alice Morse. Customs and Fashions in Old New England. 
Scribner, 1893. 387 pages. 

Earle, Alice Morse. Home Life in Colonial Days. Macmillan, New 
York, 1898. 470 pages. 

Field, Eugene. A Little Book of Profitable Tales. Scribner, New 
York, 1890. 286 pages. 

Mooney, James. " The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees," Annual 
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 188^-1886. Government Printing 
Office, Washington, 1891. 

Newell, William Welles. The Games and Songs of American Children. 
New and enlarged edition. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1903. 242 
pages. 

Wilkins, Mary E. A Humble Romance and Other Stories. Harper 
& Brothers, New York, 1887. 436 pages. 

Wilkins, Mary E. In Colonial Times : the Adventures of Ann the 
Bound Girl of Samuel Wales of Braintree in the Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay. Lothrop Publishing Company, Boston, 1899. 115 pages. 



INDEX 



Adolescence, 223, 224, 232, 236, 246, 

267 
Agriculture, effects on property ideas, 

253 

Alliteration, 27 

Amulets, 288 

Amusements, 307-309 

Animals, domains of, 244; curiosity of, 
134-139; interest in, 95, 96, 98, 220 

Animism, 31, 106, no, 290, 292-293 

Annaberg. See School tests 

Anthropological development, of dolls, 
195-203 ; of property idea, 246 

Anticipatory theory applied to prop- 
erty, 255, 274 

Ants, agricultural, 243 ; harvesting, 
243 ; slave-making, 242 ; warfare of, 

243 
Aphides, 242-243 
Approbation, love of, 261 
Aristotle, cited, 21 
Amett, L. D., 136 
Association, 297-298 
Attention, 57, 84, 87, 98, 107, 139, 251 
Attics, contents of, 315 
Auditory interest, 94-95, 139 
Automatism, 56 

Barnes, Earle, cited, 206, 240 

Barns, toy, 144 

Barus, Annie Howes, 206, 240 

Bees, 245 

Bell, Sanford, cited, 100-102 

Berlin schools. See School tests 

Bibliography, of Boy Life in a Country 
Town, 322; of Collecting Instinct, 
240; of Curosity and Interest, 140; 
of Fetichism in Children, 299 ; 
of Psychology of Daydreams, 83 ; of 
Psychology of Ownership, 285 ; of 
Story of a Sand Pile, 156; of Study 
of Dolls, 204 

Binet, A, cited, 57. 



Birds' eggs, collections of, 227 
Books, influence of, 65 
Boston schools. See School tests 
Bottles, child's passion for, 206 
Brick oven, 316 
Bridgman, Laura, 121 
Brinton, D. G., quoted, 248 
Broom making, 302, 318 
Brown, H. W., cited, 137 
Buddhism, 288 

Candle making, 312-313 

Carpentry, 148, 154, 319 

Caste, 146 

Charms, 295, 296 

Cheese making, 317 

Child magic, 294 

Cider making, 318 

City child vs. country child, 26 

Classification of collections, 235, 237 

Clothes, 277-278 

Collecting interest, age limitations of, 
208, 220 ; psychology of, 237 ; sum- 
mary of, 236 

Collections, 301, 308; arrangement of, 
233, 237 ; methods of obtaining, 
224-225 ; motives for, 228-232 ; 
sex differences in, 215; variations 
of, according to age, 225-226; 
varieties of, 217-218 

Collections, tabulation of, according to 
age, 208 ; according to arrangement, 
235 ; according to distribution of 
interest, 219 ; according to intensity 
of interest, 207 ; according to lists, 
210 ; according to motives, 231 ; ac- 
cording to prominence, 215 

Color, early interest in, 91, 92 

Color-blindness, 29 

Color sense in children, 28 

Colored hearing, 37 

Concepts, 6, 7 

Conservatism, 152 



323 



324 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION 



Contents of children's minds, method 
of investigation of, 2-12 ; tabulation 
of, 3, 4, 8, 10, 14-19, 43-45. 50-52 

Country child vs. city child, 26 

Crops, 145 

Cruelty, 103-105 

Curiosity, animal, 134-139 

Dawson, G. E., 137 

Daydreams, content at different ages, 
58 ; definition, 53 ; enjoyment of, 
75; ethics of, 69; physical charac- 
teristics of, 55 

Death, children's attitude toward, 122, 
175-176 

Decoration, 235 

Defectives, 96 

Denmark schools. See School tests 

Destructiveness, 129-132 

Dials, 316 

Dolls, accessories, 181; anthropolog- 
ical development, 195-203 ; boys' 
liking for, 190; Chinese, 201; col- 
lections, 221 ; death, 175-176; disci- 
pline, 178; Egyptian, 201 ; Eskimo, 
201; families, 180; fetiches, 293; 
food and clothing, 169-172; funer- 
als, 175-177; hygiene, 179; illusions 
in regard to, 31, 191 ; Indian, 200- 
202 ; influence of age on doll play, 
184, 193; influence on children, 1 86- 
191; Japanese, 197-199; Javanese, 
199; Korean, 199, 201 ; names, 177- 
178 ; origin of, in France, 195 ; par- 
ties, iSo; play, 157; preferences, 1 59, 
165; psychic qualities ascribed to, 
166-169; punishment, 178; relation 
to babies, 183; Roman, 201-202; 
schools, iSo; sickness, 173-175, 
183-184; size, 163,189-190; sleep, 
172; substitutes, 159-162, 187; 
toilet, 179; Tusayan, 196-197; 
weddings, 180 

Drawings, children's, 38-39, 143; of 
primitive man, 39 ; regarded by 
savages, 293 

Dress, 254, 277 

Eating, 58 

Echolalia, 127 

Educational experiment at Ashfield, 

321 
Eliot, George, quoted, 284 



Emotions, 84. See also Fear 

Epilepsy, 96-97 

Error, sources of, in tests, 3 

Evening work, 312 

Eye, movement, 87-89 ; muscles, 55 

Fable of apperception, 22 

Fads, 2i6, 232, 236 

Fairies, 293 

Fairy tales, 8, 48, 59 

Faith cure, primitive, 295 

Fame, dreams of, 63 

Farm implements, 302 

Farm occupations, 319 

Fatigue, 57, 127 

Faults, children's, 107 

Fear, 25, 1 10, 274, 280, 281-282,293-294 

Fetich, 205 ; significance, 287 

Fetichism, defined, 287 ; derivation 

of term, 287 
Fireplace, 314 
Fishing, dreams of, 63 
Flax, industry, 306; preparation, 306; 

raising, 306 
Flowers, 161 
Free text-books, 272 

Galton, Francis, cited, 37, 71, 83 

Games, 307, 308 

Geography, method of teaching, 2, 9 

Girls, 152 

Gossip, dull-day, 309 ; evening, 313 

Groos, Karl, cited, 135, 140, 274 

Hall,Mrs.WinfieldS.,cited,86,io8,i40 

Haymaking, in play, 144 

Herbs, 315-316 

Hiding instinct, 261, 283 

Hoarding instinct, in animals, 242 ; in 

man, 283 
Hogan, Mrs. Louise E., cited, no, 140 
Hour glass, 317 
Houses, toy, 142, 143 
Hunting, 308 ; dreams of, 63 
Husking, 307 

Ideals, 65 

Idolatry, 202, 203 

Imagination, 65, 73, 153 

Imbecile, 96 

Imitation, 143-145, 149, 216, 231-232, 

236 
Individuality, 216 



INDEX 



325 



Industrial training, 147 

Inflation of currency (play), 149 

Inquisitiveness, 126 

Instinct, collecting, 205, 232, 237 ; 

hiding, 261, 283; maternal, 293; 

primitive, 25; property, 241 
Instruction, material of, in elementary 

schools, 41, 48-49 

Jealousy, 279 
Jokes, 310 

Kansas City schools. See School tests 

Keller, Helen, cited, 86, 116, 121, 140 

Kindergarten, 20-21, 98 

Kinnaman, A. J., 136 

Kitchen utensils, 314-315 

Kleptomania, 261 

Kline, L. W., cited, 136, 299 

Labor, foundation of ownership, 265 

Law making (play), 150, 151 

Le Conte, Joseph, cited, 55, 83 

Letourneau, Charles, cited, 249, 286 

Lies, 266 

Life, distribution of, 241 

Light, interest in, 91, 92, 94, 95 

Loti, Pierre, cited, 133, 240 

Lotze, Rudolph Hermann, cited, 278 

Love, dreams of, 67 

Love fetiches, 297-298 

Luck, 31, 230, 295-296 

Lucky stones, 2S8 

Macy, Mrs. John A., quoted, 116 

Magic, child, 294 

Maine, Sir Henry, cited, 252 

Make believe among children, 296 

Manual training, 265 

Maple-sugar making, 315 

Marriage, dreams of, 67 

Mascot, 288 

Matches, homemade, 313 

Maternal instinct, 293 

Mechanical interests, 95, 110-112 

Mental images, 71 

Mescal, 80 

Misconceptions of children, 24, 27, 30, 
32-36 

Miser, 266, 281, 284 

Money (play), 149; collecting of, by 
children, 262 ; superstitions con- 
cerning, 262-263. ^^^ ^^^^ Wealth 



Money sense of children, 40 

Monkeys, 135-136 

Moore, Mrs. K. C, cited, 86, 93, 140 

Morbid reverie, 76 

Morgan, Lloyd, cited, 135, 140, 254 

Mosso, Angelo, cited, 57, 83 

Muscle interest, 93 

Muscular sensations, 93 

Museums, 321 

Name, relation of, to self-feeling, 278 

Naming (play), 145 

Naturalistic stage of development, 
238-239 

Nature, collections, 227; interests, 
58, 95-106, 221 

Nervous fatigue, 127 

Nutrition, mental effects of insuffi- 
cient, 58 

Observation, 98, 99 

Olsen, J., 49 

Origin of life, children's interest in, 

106, 112-119 
Origin of things, children's ideas of, 291 
Ownership, early manifestations of, 

256-259; effect of, on children, 271- 

273 

Pain, 105 

Paper dolls, 183 

Partridge, G. E., 136 

Pedagogical suggestions, 25, 52, 118, 
238, 264, 298, 300 

Perez, Bernard, quoted, 95, 140 

Personality, 280; attributed by chil- 
dren to unknown agencies, 106 ; at- 
tributed to personal belongings, 290; 
attributed to inanimate objects, 291 

Picture collections, 221 

Plauen schools. See School tests 

Play, 142-155, 236, 237, 295, 303, 307 

Popguns, 302 

Poverty and pain, 282 

Present conditions in country towns, 
320 

Preyer, W., cited, 86, 92, 140 

Pride, 255 

Primitive communism, 248 

Primitive man, 293 ; property holding, 
247 ; worship, 288 

Property, communal idea of, 247 ; de- 
fined, 241 ; effects of loss of, 279; 



326 



CHILD LIFE AND EDUCATION ^^ 



as factor in mental development, 
274; and personality, 274-277, 280- 
281 ; as power, 255; woman as, 253, 
work, basis of, 250 ; theories of, 252 

Property sense, early manifestations 
of, 256-259; growth of, 270 

Pseudopia, 36 

Puns, children's tendency toward, 27 

Quarrels of children, 150, 152, 268, 273 
Questions of children, 105-110, 112, 

114, 119-120, 125 
Quilting bees, 307 

\/ Recapitulation theory, 266 ; applied 
to property, 255; in biology, 288; 
in psychology, 289 
Religious interest, 119-122, 138 
Reverie, 76 

Ribot, T., cited, 86, 139, 140, 251 
Riches, feffect of sudden, 279 
Right and wrong, children's ideas of, 

37. 69 
Rivalry, 228, 233, 237, 251 

Savages, property of, 249-255 
School tests : Annaberg, 42, 43, 46 ; 

Berlin, 3-9; Boston, 10-14, 20; 

Denmark, 49-52; Kansas City, 14; 

Plauen, 9, 10 
School savings banks, 268, 286 
Schools, data from, Santa Barbara, 

206 ; Santa Rosa, 206-207 
Self and not self, 290 
Self-consciousness, 248-249, 251, 259, 

261, 278 
Sex-differences, 215, 232 
Sheep shearing, 303 
Shingle making, 301-302 
Shinn, Milicent W., cited, 86-87, 9~^ 

100, 108, 141 
Sight, 87, 90, 93, 94, 139 
Silas Marner, 284 
Singing schools, 308 
Skin sensations, 93 
Small, M. H., 137 
Smoking, 101-102 
Specialization of farming occupations, 

319 
Spelling school, 308 
Soap making, 317 
Sound, interest in, 92-95, ICO 
Souvenir craze, 296 



Stages of development in' child, 222 

Staring, 87, 89, 139 

Starr, Frederick, cited, 254, 286 

Stealing, 266 

Stone worship, 288 

Stories, New England, 309-313 

Story making, 65 

Suggestibility, 137 

SuUivan, Anne Mansfield. See Mrs. 

John A. Macy 
Sully, James, quoted, 87, 93, 141, 260, 

261 
Superstitions, concerning money, 262, 

263 ; concerning precious stones, 296 
Surprise, 86, 139 

Tanning, 318 

Taoism, 288 

Taste, loo-ioi 

Taxation (play), 150 

Topography, 151 

Touch, 100 

Town meetings (play), 150 

Toys, 130, 142 

Trading, 148, 149, 225 ; passion for, 268 

Trapping, 309 

Travel, desire for, 133 

Truancy, 136 

Truth, II 

Truthfulness, facts bearing on, 30 

Utensils, evolution of, 316-317 

Vanity, 255 
Veddahs, 246 
Vinegar making, 318 
Visual interest, 86, 92 

Wealth, 255; dreams of, 60; loss of, 
279 ; sudden, 276 

Westermarck, E. A., cited, 253 

Will, weakness of, 81 

Winter festivities, 308 

Woman as property, 253 

Wonder, 139 

Wood implements, 303 

Wood industries in New England, 303 

Woodwork (play), 143-145, 146, 147 

Wool, carding, 304 ; dyeing, 305 ; 
knitting, 306 ; spinning, 305 ; weav- 
ing. 305 

Work, as basis of property, 250 

Wundt, W., cited, 29 



I 



